Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

He was having a shit day.

In his absolutely shit job, under his shit employer, for the sake of his shit lifestyle to gain his Potions mastery; the only thing that isn't shit (debatable at this point, if you ask me).

He'd thought about it a lot, the reason why he's currently working at a crappy sodding pub in good 'ol Knockturn Alley. He's got a perfectly good job at a humble apothecary just North of the city, in a small little town.

It was, after all, a requirement to work in an apothecary to serve and to learn under a potions master in order to get his degree. What was not a requirement, though, was getting paid.

You've heard it here, folks.

Severus Snape is an unpaid intern.

So here he is working in the shitty little pub in good 'ol Knockturn Alley. His employer, the absolute fucking bastard that he is, never really gave him a specific job. He'd asked the first day there what he was to do and the man had the gall to say "All of the above, boy."

Merlin, what an asshole.

As of this Sunday night, his current job description is walking around the pub serving the lousy (and often criminal) magical folk drinking. It wasn't easy, being a waiter (why the fuck is there a waiter in a pub anyway?) The people who usually are in the pub are a bunch of no good perverts who seemingly are just discovering what a twink is.

He's used to the catcalls, though. Has been for a portion of his life. For all the bullying he got from the Marauders for his appearance back in school, puberty hit him like an Unforgivable that left him actually quite attractive in a subtle way. Subtle until it was not, then it would leave you breathless (in some people) and unbelievably disgusting(in others; degenerates).

He growls as he felt another smack on his ass, wishing nothing more than to reach for his wand and hex the ever-loving fuck out of the offender. He couldn't, though. Unfortunately the last time he did that he was docked his pay for 2 weeks, leaving him with barely enough from his already barely enough salary 5 months back. So he just grunts and marches on back to the kitchen where another set of meals were prepped and ready to serve. Maybe he should just zone out for the next 4 hours, occlumency not required.

---

Sometimes he wonders what his life would have been if he had accepted the invitation to be an honorary death eater, to have purebloods begrudgingly support his potions mastery and to figuratively be sat on the Dark Lord’s, sorry, Voldemort’s lap. He was a nose-hair close to it too. But alas, Lily Evans, his absolute wench of a best friend, quite literally dragged him with his hair through Cokeworth during their last year of winter break (he doesn’t remember why he went home that year, he never did once, besides summer); from his front door up to the old playground they used to frequent. There they yelled and screamed, taking out years of unchecked aggression towards the other.

For a moment they forgot that they were wizards, with magic at the tip of their fingers. They forgot that they were in the middle of the beginning of a war. They forgot that they were meant to kill one another within the next 4 months, having chosen their sides since 5th year. They forgot all of this as they beat the ever-living shit out of each other.

Every punch and kick and scratch was met with steadfast retaliation; having learned to fight in the messy streets of Cokeworth.

“You hang out with bigots, Severus Snape! They throw slurs and nasty hexes at any motherfucker that so much as had a fucking muggle pencil in their hands!” Lily would yell, kicking out her leg to hit at his side, his spleen screams in pain.

“Oooh, that sounds soooo fucking familiar to me, dear Lily Evans. I wonder why? Oh, right. Because your twat of a boyfriend does the same exact thing to me!. He is just as bigoted and nasty. The rich boy targeting the poor ugly half-blood, and for what? For being friends with you?!” He delivers a punch aimed at her face, only for him to trip and punch her boob instead.

That stopped the both of them immediately, staring at his fist with shock. As soon as their eyes met they broke down laughing, hysteria and tears mixed into it as it echoed throughout the playground and the forest behind them.

After that they sat under their knife-marked tree, opting to talk it out without interrupting the other.

“I’m a Slytherin, a house that is hated by other houses. I can’t afford to be hated by my own housemates as well, Lily. Don’t say I had you, because we’ve already proven that you were never always there. While you were out and about with friends that you could trust I was trying to survive with allies that could turn against me at any given mistake. I needed to protect myself.” Severus says softly, his hands braiding the grass at his feet in an attempt to keep himself from crying, failing considerably.

“I...I’m...Sev, why didn’t you ever tell me? You know I’d at least tried harder to stick by your side. This also doesn’t change the fact that even without your Slytherin posse and the Marauders you were always dabbling in dark magic. It’s dark and restricted for a reason! Did you know how long I’ve tried to defend you from the Gryffindors claiming that you’re a dark wizard? A death eater? It hurts seeing you turn to a group that promotes death to all muggleborns.” Lily sobs brokenly, throwing a fistful of dried leaves at him.

They stayed that way until midnight to talk, uncaring of the cold weather and the spooky silence of their surroundings.

“I miss my best friend, Severus, I want him back.”

“Oh, Lily, you never lost him.”

That was one hell of a day, for which Severus Snape was eternally grateful that it had happened.

So yes, they worked on their battered friendship, starting with Severus finally agreeing to spending the rest of his Christmas with the Evans; to the delight of the household, sans Petunia (“Tuney fucked off to London,” Lily received a smack behind her head from her mother for that comment). And after they returned to Hogwarts it was like the castle flipped upside down. Students watched in awe and disbelief at Snape, dark-sneering-neverhappy-Snape, howling with laughter next to Lily Evans. It felt illegal to witness but here they were. Was it the end of the world?

James Potter and his merry group of fuckheads were less than pleased, Severus noted with delight. They stopped their targeted pranking (read: bullying) in sixth year, the same year Lily and Potter inevitably got together. But the animosity between them was as strong as ever. That didn’t stop Lily from trying to get them to at least be civil towards one another. That was a messy event that left a massive mark on his person. Whether or not it was in a good way depended on who you asked.

To summarize, there was a lot of crying from Potter, much to Snape’s horrified disdain. The pureblood sobbed about how lucky Severus was to have Lily and he vowed that he would steal Lily from him before he could marry her and turn her into a death eater muggleborn. To which Severus and Lily scoffed.

“I’m not an object to be owned and stolen, you motherfucking toerag.” Lily rolls her eyes.

“That, and I’m a fag.” Severus continues.

Black, although speechless, slaps at Lupin’s back, having started a coughing fit from the shock. Pettigrew looks over at Lupin with concern, eyes sometimes flying back to Severus before looking away meekly. Potter stared at the Slytherin dumbly while Lily punched his arm. Severus’ eye twitched from the pain.

“Don’t call yourself that, Sev! That’s such a rude way to call yourself!”

Severus shrugs, “It’s true isn’t it? Besides, only I’m allowed to say it between you and I, since I am, the gay man in question. You’ll just sound offensive if you do.” he tells her. Lily merely sighs, unwilling to dispute his strange logic.

“But I can assure you, Potter, I do not have any romantic or sexual interest towards Lily.” he turns to look at the redhead before shuddering, “I would much rather stare in the eyes of a Basilisk than to so much as fondle her boob.” he barely dodged her punch for that comment.

The rest of the open group confession was filled with petty hatred from Black, stuttered excuses from Pettigrew and a, strangely enough, heartfelt apologetic monologue from Lupin. The werewolf, dare he say, almost made him cry.

Lily cackled and swore to never let him live it down.

The talk with the Slytherins was surprisingly quick, if not for the fact that Severus ended it as fast as he could. Anyone who witnessed the mended friendship of Severus and Lily knew that there has been a drastic shift in the halfblood’s loyalties.

After that brawl with Lily in winter break, they both made plans upon plans to keep each other safe in case the Slytherins retaliated, both in Hogwarts and outside of Hogwarts. So he was feeling confident (or at least he’s pretending, Severus has always been a bit of a theatre kid back in muggle school)

“Hanging out with mudbloods again, I see? You know he won’t be pleased when he finds out.” Mulciber taunts, the other Slytherins gather around the common room, watching the display with anticipation, “What would you do if I reported this to Malfoy, hm? What would big brother Lucius say?”

Severus crosses his arms, “The Dark Lord can shove his displeasure where the sun doesn’t shine.” The Slytherins gaped at his open defiance, “I have no interest in joining his cult.”

Mulciber snarls, “How fucking dare you talk about the Dark Lord like that, you filthy halfblood!” he stepped forward, only to be met with a wand to his neck.

“Ah, ah, Mulciber, I may no longer be loyal to Voldemort but that does not mean I forgot all the dark spells I know.” Severus twists his wand, smiling dangerously upon seeing the bigger man swallow in poorly hidden apprehension.

The ex death eater-to-be slowly walked backwards, towards the common room exit, before spinning around gracefully.

“As for Lucius,” He pauses, staring contemplatively at Mulciber, “Tell him whatever you want, I could care less.”

Which, of course, was a fucking lie

That entire month was spent apprehensively waiting for a letter from Lucius, knowing full well that he was about to lose the blond man. Severus opened up about this particular fear to Lily, explaining to her that despite Lucius’ ‘ I’m rich and therefore I should be an asshole’ behavior, to him it was ‘I’m rich and therefore I should be an asshole, who cares about Severus’. He recounts the times that Lucius actually took time to befriend the poor halfblood, after finding out his potions talent and academic skill.

Lily smiles at him softly, “I don’t know anything about Malfoy, but I’m willing to bet that he still cares about you, despite your rebellion.”

Severus could only hope she was right.

And right she was...kind of.

A week after that conversation, he watches a very pompous and very familiar looking owl. The Slytherin table immediately ceased any conversation as they watched the Malfoy bird land in front of Severus, a howler attached to it’s leg. He pales at the sight and bites his lip nervously, looking at the Gryffindor table. He immediately makes eye contact with Lily who nods encouragingly, although he could see her apprehension as well.

He ignores the smug looks thrown his way by his other housemates and slowly unties the howler from the owl. The owl, Lucio, side-eyed him before flying away. Yeah, that was totally comforting. Totally...encouraging.

“Like a band aid, Severus, like a band aid.” He opens the red letter.

Everyone in the Great Hall leaned towards the Slytherin table in anticipation.

“SEVERUS TOBIAS SNAPE...THE GALL YOU HAVE-” There was a pause, as though Lucius was trying to calm himself. It fails because the volume of his voice did not change. “THE AUDACITY! YOU- AFTER EVERYTHING I’VE DONE FOR YOU? AFTER EVERYTHING? “Tell him whatever you want, I could care less.” YOU COULD CARE LESS? ABOUT ME? DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM? I’M LUCIUS-FUCKING-MALFOY AND YOU WILL CARE ABOUT IT BECAUSE...” Another pause, everyone sat in shock at hearing such emotion from Lucius for the first time. “...Because you are my little brother, in all but blood. Whether you like it or not. Whether the Slytherins like it or not. So you better write me a letter and take back what you said or I swear on Salazar Slytherin’s saggy fucking tits that you will regret it.”

Severus blinked and then blinked again and then blinked another 5 times before seeing color from doing so before finally letting out a shocked “...What?”

The howler, much to everyone’s surprise, turns to look at the rest of the Slytherins at the table. “I suggest that none of you touch a hair from his head, or there will be consequences. I’m talking to you, Mulciber. Leave him alone.” The howler faces Severus once more, “We’ll talk more in private. You better be ready, Severus Snape, there is much that you will be answering.” and with that the howler sets itself on fire, leaving behind ashes and a thoroughly shocked Great Hall.

So that went well.

By the end of the week, Severus and Lucius managed to talk it out during a Hogsmeade weekend. Lucius, although dismayed, understood Severus’ point of view.

“I will no longer be able to help you with your mastery, I hope you are aware of that.” Yes he way.

“The Dark Lord will be displeased, like Mulciber says, but…” Lucius pauses, “...I’ll make sure he won’t come after you. I’ll just...talk shit about you. I’ll talk the other Slytherins to follow my lead, a handful of them do owe me favors” Severus laughed and he was grateful.

“Did you mean it, though? Am I really like a brother to you?” the halfblood asks softly.

Lucius smiles, “Since the day you told me to fuck off.”

Chapter Text

It was a grueling 8 hour shift at the shady nameless pub but it was finally over. He wouldn't have another shift until Tuesday evening.  Marvelous. Magnificent, even. Totally not enough days off. Sod everything.

So here he is back in his tiny apartment that he was sharing with another person. She’s this tall chubby Asian woman, with quite the sass on her. Severus rolls his eyes at the thought of having another temperamental woman in his life. As if I don’t have enough bitching in my life. He thought, mildly endearing. The woman, Alicia Jeika, was a decent roommate, if not the best he’s ever had. The only one he’s had so far. So don’t blame him for not having his standards of a roommate quite solid.

Enough about her, Severus is feeling exhausted. Damn, job. He hopes he goes back to bartending, at least there’s a bar in between him and the dirty perverts.

"I want to cause genocide." Severus stretches tiredly against his meager bed, ignoring Lily's sweet laugh permeating next to him. 

"You've missed your chance when you rejected joining the death eaters, Sevvy." She replies as she flops down, her head bumping into him causing them both to hiss slightly. He lets out a grumbled 'Watch it.' before dignifying her with a reply. 

"Ah of course, the very same group that wants people like you and I dead. The very same group that nearly ostracized me from the wizarding community if it weren't for Lucius-fucking-Malfoy" He harrumphs, crossing his arms tightly and glaring a the ceiling. 

She shrugs her shoulders "At least you've got him on your side, the pompous asshole. How's he doing anyway? How's the missus?" 

"He's as well as a rich pureblood could be. And Narcissa is to give birth on the 3rd of June." He sniffs disdainfully before continuing, "I've also been...named Godfather to the brat." 

“What!” Lily abruptly sits up, causing Severus to jump up as well, his hands hovering over her swollen stomach. "Damnit, Lily! Your baby-" 

"They beat me to it, the bastards!" she yells angrily, glaring at her best friend. "You were supposed to be my pick first!" 

He blinks, "Huh?" 

"I wanted dear Harry to be your first Godson ever. But Lucius goddamn Malfoy just had to beat me to it. I bet he did it on purpose, knowing him!" Lily harrumphs, crossing her arms over her baby bump. 

Severus’ mouth is gaping by then, shocked (and touched) by his best friend's ire. He shook his head, “Have you forgotten who the hell I am? Dark wizard from Slytherin? Snarky asshole with a horrible childhood? Why on earth you both are fighting over first dibs in having me as a Godfather, is beyond me! Do I look like I’m good with children?!” He hisses out, saying the last word out as though he was disgusted. 

“Ugh, you’re too dramatic, Severus Snape.” Lily exasperatedly rolls her eyes, bumping her shoulder to his. “Don’t you remember those rants you forced upon me about the balance of Light, Dark and Neutral to magic? We’ve established that dark doesn’t automatically evil; same goes for being a Slytherin. And that shit about you being a snarky asshole with a horrible family? Well fuck, that’s true, but I can’t imagine that you’d be all that to Harry. You’ve got a big heart under all that...dreary ice cold aesthetic you’re going for.” 

“It’s NOT an aesthetic.” 

“It might as well be! Look, would you ever hurt me?” Lily asks.

“No, never! I would never!” he ignores all the times they’ve thrown down and kicked each other’s asses. Also that unspoken moment in 5th year when he called her-

“Then will you extend that sentiment to my child?” reluctantly, Severus shakes his head. “Then I can trust you with my son, Sevvy. I know you’d treat him well.” Lily says softly, leaning her head on his shoulder. “Please be the Godfather of my son, even though he won’t be your first one.” He snorts at that, although stays silent.

Seeing Severus becoming very uncomfortable by the aspect of being around children, Lily changes the subject.

“How was your shift?” 

He groans immediately, detaching himself from Lily to lay back down. “Fuck, it’s as horrible as ever. Got my ass slapped like 5 times and I’ve been invited to bedrooms more than should be necessary.” Severus rants, “I wish I could just-” He mime-chokes the air, shaking his hands to emphasize. “But no, that would just get me fired, or worse, unpaid again.”

Lily pats his belly in sympathy, “Well, I’d tell you to leave the job but then that would bring us back to the topic of me suggesting that you work for Fleamont and I know you’re against that.” 

“I’d rather not work for any Potter, the patriarch or the bastard you call a husband.” he pauses, then vaguely waves towards her torso, “Harry is up for debate, please don’t raise him to be like his father.” 

Lily laughs, remembering how much of a dickhead her husband was (is) in school, “Of course, of course. I’ll do God’s work.” The red head then says, “Why not work in muggle London instead?” 

Severus shakes, rolling to his side to face her, “I can’t, it’s stated in my contract that I can only work in magical establishments. Full of shit if you ask me, and I’m willing to bet my dear housemates were involved. You’d think they would stop meddling in some lowly halfblood’s business.” he rolls his eyes. 

“You Slytherins and your grudges.” Lily laughs which was cut off by a grunt. “Ow, can I use your bathroom? Harry’s kicked my god damn bladder again.

“How people willingly go through 9 months of pregnancy is beyond me…it’s to your left.” 

—

Tuesday evening came around agonizingly quick, as Severus stood at the back alley of the pub. He was feeling exhausted already; feels like a bad omen almost. He organized all the research he wrote from his internship at the apothecary and neatly shoved it into his old messenger bag.

He steps into the backdoor that led to the kitchens and sighs in relief upon seeing a familiar face.

“Thank bloody Merlin you have a shift with me today.” Severus pads towards the black woman stood next to the employee's logbook. 

“Snape! Boy do I have a story for you.” she says, watching him take his wand out to put his magical signature onto the logbook. He rolls his eyes at her, hiding his wand back into his sleeve.

“Gossip? Gardenia, do I look like the type to stoop low enough to involve myself in such things?” 

The woman, Dominique Vee Gardenia, pouts “Oh come on, Snape. I know how much you love my stories, especially about my whore-next-door.” that stops Severus short.

“...well, if it’s about him.” 

The black woman cackles as she follows Severus towards their boss. 

“Ah, Snape! Gardenia! Out there both of you. You’ll be serving tables tonight.” 

Severus and Gardenia groan and look at each other. It’s just their luck, having to be forced out to the sharks once again. They take their small parchments and quills before walking out. 

As insufferable their hour was, this didn’t deter Gardenia from talking Severus’ ear off. He found it pleasant, a distraction almost, against having to deal with the patrons of the nameless pub. He laughs and scoffs and stares scandalized at her as her gossip unfolds, extremely detailed and not leaving a single thing out.

Dominique Vee Gardenia is a black woman just a year older than he was, who migrated from America to take up her mastery in Ancient Runes. Just like him, though, she remains unpaid which brought her here. She was bubbly and bright. Sometimes it gives him whiplash how sunshine-y she is which makes him scoff from time to time; are all Americans like this? Who would be bubbly in this dreary country they call Britain? Nonetheless, she quickly became one of his favorite people, the others also being girls, sans Lucius. But he doesn’t count, because that's his brother and therefore he is automatically a disdain, although a loving one. 

Gardenia was getting to the juiciest part of her story, both of them walking side by side with trays of beer in both hands. Distracted, they didn’t notice the very expensive wall in front of them. At least, what was once thought of as a wall.

 She suddenly gasps, “Snape!” but it was too late. Severus grunts as he bumps into the wall, spilling all the beers on both him and it. He curses, “Damn, wall!” 

“Uh, Snape…that isn’t a wall.” Gardenia winces.

Severus abruptly looks up, and gapes. She’s right, that isn't a wall. A wall wouldn’t wear an expensive looking gray 3 piece suit. It also wouldn’t look devilishly attractive, with dark pushed back hair and maroon-ish eyes. Also, also it wouldn’t be swiping at said suit with an equally expensive looking handkerchief in its large hands. And-

He snaps himself out of his thoughts upon feeling Gardenia smack at his arm, “Snape, the dude!” she whispers, her eyes signaling to the man. Severus stutters, his left arm hugging the trays while his right hand hovers towards the man.

“I’m so sorry sir, uh-let me-shit-erm.”

To make matters worse, his boss steps out from behind the bar, having witnessed the scene and reacted a minute too late.

“Boy! What the bloody hell are you doing!” he roughly pulls Severus back to stand in front of the rich man. 

“I apologize on his behalf, he is useless half the time. Your next order will be on the house” 

Translate: Severus Snape will be docked off his pay. Bollocks, not again.

“Please allow me to clean your suit. ” The portly man takes out his wand but the rich man stops him with a hand raised and a slight chuckle. And, my oh my, what a laugh that is. 

Severus, now is not the time, he mentally kicks himself.

“There’s no need for that, all is forgiven.” The rich man says his voice out of place in the shabby pub with how deep and smooth it was. 

Severus…

“Yes, yes! Thank you, please take a seat.” His boss gestures to a table, then smacks Severus on his arm. “Clean the table, boy! And take their orders.” with a nasty grin and a bow thrown in the direction of the now seated rich man, he stalks off to the kitchen, most likely to pull at this hair, or what’s left of it. Gardenia sends a cleaning charm to the beer stained floor before walking away, smiling at Severus with sympathy.

Severus watches her head for a table with both trays of beer still in her arms before turning to the rich man smiling at him pleasantly. All signs of beer missing from his suit.

“I apologize once again, sir. Uh, what may I get you?” 

The rich man looks at Severus more intently, his eyes wandering slowly from his head to his toes. Severus feels insecure from the man watching him like this, and it wasn’t exactly helping the humiliation he felt from accidentally causing a scene. 

“Hm…I’ll have a firewhiskey, on the rocks.” the man says, his eyes finally sliding up to meet Severus’ eyes.

Jesus Christ he was getting flustered.

“Is that all?”

“That will do...for now.”

If that isn’t ominous, Severus didn’t know what is.

He hurries to the bar, quietly placing a cleaning charm on himself upon remembering that he was also soaked in beer. God, how embarrassing. 

“Merlin, Snape. Way to go.” the bartender, Harlow, snorts while wiping a tall glass.

“Shut up, shut up, shut up. Just get me a fire whiskey.” Severus hisses out, “On the rocks.” He adds quickly.

Chapter Text

It was horrifying, how one accident would lead to a loyal customer.

April flew by and almost everyday of the week, he’d see that rich man sitting in what is now his usual spot. Back corner with the whole view of the small pub. 

It didn’t help that he was always asking for Severus. And, according to Gardenia and his other co-workers, he was always sought for on days he wasn’t in. It was kind of scary, if you ask him. Thinking about it, the man has essentially got a solid idea of his work schedule now.  

So he and Gardenia made a simple plan of trying to get him away from the rich guy as much as possible. Most times Gardenia would cut the rich guy’s line of 20 questions with a ‘Snape! Can you handle these tables for me?’ or ‘You’re needed in the kitchen’ and, to Severus’ disdain, ‘Snape! Stop flirting and haul ass!’ But that usually comes from Harlow. What a dickhead, a helpful one but still a dickhead.

Other times, unlikely (and unwanted) help would come from the rowdy patrons, drunk enough to be loud and easily angered if the servers’ attention weren’t on them the moment they called. So Severus would usually make a quick escape in the guise of trying to appease the drunkards before any further damage can be done to the pub (i.e. broken pints, chipped tables; you know, the usual).

So between Gardenia and Harlow’s interventions and the pub goers usual unruliness and groping, Severus was able to avoid interacting with the handsome bastard for longer than necessary.

“Thank you for your service.” The rich man says leaving behind a hefty tip for Severus.

Oh god, thought Severus, do not get him started with the tips. The first time he left a large amount of money Severus had chased him out the pub (He felt his dignity shrivel up; how nostalgic to Hogwarts). He ran up to the man calling for him.

“Sir! Sir, you left your change.” Severus offers his hands up to the man, the galleons glinting in the dark.

The rich man doesn’t bother looking at the galleons, opting to stare into Severus’ eyes instead. With one hand, he closes the shorter man’s fists around the coins. His palms are hot compared to Severus’ frosty ones.

“Keep the change, darling, for a rainy day.” 

Since then he’d leave money big enough to fund his apprenticeship for a few weeks, it wasn’t enough for his daily living, not in this economy. But at least that was one problem temporarily taken care of.

Darling.

It was strange and kind of creepy, being called such a pet name by a stranger. Severus didn’t even know his name! But by God did he hear it all the time. It was ‘darling this’ ‘darling that’, and as good looking as the rich man was, this was his deal breaker. 

This guy is a pervert.

A rich pervert.

A rich good-looking pervert.

A rich good-looking tall pervert.

A rich good-looking tall probably a pureblood pervert.

And Severus hopes that the man gets tired of chasing after his unattainable ass.

—

It was approaching midnight on the 7th of June, 1980 when Severus watches as Lucius Malfoy marches to and fro the operation room at St. Mungo's. Concern is etched onto his silver eyes as they drift towards the doors that are magically keeping him from going in to get to his wife. 

Severus ponders back to when Lucius sent him an owl 9 hours ago. The parchment, hastily ripped and tear stained told him to come to St. Mungo's immediately. He was studying for a test Master Hoovers was giving him in order to proceed into more advanced studies into his Potion’s mastery. The old man, as kind as ever (ignoring the fact that the man does not pay him), swore to him that if he could perfect 5 complicated potions in a week’s time frame then he’d get him into talks with Master Belby. This immediately put Severus into overdrive in his studies, as prodigious as he was in potions he knew that making them was never easy. And knowing Master Hoovers, he’d want to challenge Severus; which he appreciates immensely.

His notes would have to be put in hold for now, maybe he needs this distraction.

And what a distraction it was. 

The moment Lucius caught sight of him, he let out a sob and pulled Severus in for a tight hug. Severus, mildly horrified and massively worried, took them into the men’s room and into a stall. He casts a silencing charm before turning to look at his brother who sat himself down on the closed toilet seat..

“What’s going on? How’s Narcissa and Draconis?” He asks, to which Lucius sobs harder. Oh dear.

“Cissa’s on lockdown in the operating room, there’s been a complication. She was supposed to give birth 2 days ago! Oh, Salazar…What if she doesn’t survive this?! What if Draco doesn’t?” Lucius looks up at Severus in horror, “What if they both don’t make it! I don’t want to lose them.” he wails, clutching Severus’ threadbare sweater. Severus, having never seen his pseudo-brother in such a state, could only pay his hair for a moment.

“They haven’t let you in at all?” Severus asks tentatively, conscious of accidentally pushing the Malfoy Lord over the edge. 

Lucius shook his head, “I was there for the beginning, June 5th, Draco wasn’t coming out yet but all was fine. It wasn’t until this morning did Narcissa start to experience horrible pain. It nearly put her in a seizure, the healers said. I was left to stay in our hospital room while they rolled her off to the OR.”

“I don’t want to lose them, Severus. They mean the world to me.” Lucius says sorrowly.

Severus shook his head and pulled the weeping man up, he then hugged him tightly. He rubbed Lucius’ back who was sobbing into his neck. “You won’t lose them, Cissa’s stronger than that.” He pulls away to look at his pseudo-brother’s face with determination, “And I have reason to believe that my Godson will be as stubborn as his father.”

Lucius smiles weakly, before going back in for a hug. He was still over the edge, but he was a bit calmer now. 

That was almost 9 hours ago, and all they could do was wait by the operating room for any news, good or bad, regarding Narcissa’s labor. Severus spent the time lightly going through his notes and distracting Lucius with any topic he could think of. 

Naturally, the rich man was brought up. It was enough to stop his nervous pacing.

Lucius didn’t look very happy to hear about what was happening in his job. “I don’t like this Severus, you shouldn’t be working at such a disgusting place. Not when there’s perverts out there trying to…shag you.”

Severus laughs, “Such indecent vocabulary, Lucius. What will your father say?”

Lucius scoffs, “He will say nothing. Not with him 6 feet under.” he gestures around the corridor, “Do you see any Abraxas portraits anywhere? He won't hear a sodding thing.”

“Don’t change the subject! You shouldn’t be working there, I forbid you to!” Lucius points an accusing finger at Severus.

“You’ve already forbidden me to get into 70% of the jobs I can work part time in! Or at least, your posse has. This is the only place that can bring me any form of livelihood. So yes, I’m surrounded by perverted criminals and a perverted rich pureblood but as if I’d let them stop me from achieving what I need to achieve.” He crosses his arms, glaring at Lucius. 

“You can’t tell me what to do either. I do what I fucking want.” Severus grumbled, to which Lucius sighs tiredly. 

“At least I know that Draco’s Godfather is as stubborn as ever.” Lucius frowns, “I don’t seem to recognize your description of the pureblood. Black hair and maroon eyes, you say? There’s a lot of black-haired folk, but I don’t know about maroon eyes. Did you happen to catch his name?”

Severus shook his head, “I do not want to acquaint myself further than I am forced to now.”

Lucius hums, “I know every single pureblood in Britain, perhaps he is a foreigner?” 

“...Maybe…God forbid he ends up being a French wizard.” Severus mock-shudders at the thought. Lucius rolled his eyes, “I’m half French, twat.”

Severus only laughs.

As the clock struck 12, signaling the end of the day. A large surge of magic wafted through the halls. Severus and Lucius stood up, briefly looking at each other before walking closer to the operating room’s entrance. The surge came from there. What was going on?

Lucius twirls his cane, his anxiety reaching new heights. “What’s happening, why was there a massive swell of magic? This is ridiculous, if something happens to either of them I will drag this hospital to the ground.” 

“Calm down, Luciu-”

The head healer walked through the doors of the operating room. Her slouched figure strutted tiredly towards the two. “Lord Malfoy?” she inquired, looking at the blond man.

“That is me.” he could only say, too nervous to say anything else. Although his behavior changed back to fit his aristocratic confidence, his internal turmoil stopped him from being able to say further.

The healer sighs before smiling tiredly, “Congratulations, Lord Malfoy. Everything is successful, your wife and child will be transported back to their room in a moment.”

Lucius stood there shell-shocked. 

Severus lets out a quiet chuckle before stepping forward, “Thank you...” he looks down at her coat, “...Healer Zworia. What was that surge of magic, though? It nearly knocked us off the bench from its power.” 

Zworia straightens her posture, a curious glint in her eye (A Ravenclaw alumni, maybe?). “The surge was the combined force of Mrs. Malfoy’s magic and the babe’s. This happens very rarely, and every account proves to conceive a gifted child.” she smiles, “Watch out for the child’s future interests, they might end up being quite the prodigy.”

Lucius snapped out of his stupor, head held high. “As to be expected from a Malfoy.”

“Surely, now come along, Mr. Malfoy. A nurse will assist you with the young Malfoy’s documents.”

—

Severus shook his head as his attention was called. Harlow, the one who called him, subtly pointed at the rich man with a sympathetic look on his face. “Sorry, Snape. The bloke’s being really insistent this time. Looks proper murderous if you ask me.” 

The halfblood turns to look at the corner of the room to see maroon eyes leering at him. The rich man nods, beckoning him to come to him. Severus, with a deep sigh, walks over, abandoning his notes.

“Good evening sir, do you want the usual?” 

The man sat silently in his seat, examining Severus. He brings his left hand to rub at his chin, as though he is deep in thought. Just make a choice already, so I can get the fuck away. 

“No, I want something different.” The man says vaguely while looking at him in the eyes, to which Severus silently screams. Alright, then tell me, you twat! Don’t just announce it.

The man snorts, as though he heard a funny joke. Is this man insane? 

“Alright, sir. What would it be?” Severus holds the parchment in his hand higher, ready to note down the man’s unnecessarily mysterious order. As well as to shield himself from the man, not that it would help. 

The man opened his mouth and told him his request. Severus stares at the tall handsome man in disbelief.

What the fuck did he just say?

“What the fuck did you just say?” Severus asks, dangerously low. The tall handsome man, unaware of the halfblood’s dark mood, elaborates.

“Well you’re what the kids would say ‘A hot piece of ass’, darling. And I’ve got quite the possessive streak, if I’m to believe my friends. Watching you being ogled at by disgusting pub goers is not how I like spending my evenings and so I will ask you again; how much to buy your time the entire night?”

Severus could only stare at the man, mind reeling from the string of bullshit that came out of this bastard’s mouth. This man, this man truly is just a pervert. Good-looking or not. 

“I am not the service you are looking for, sir. The red light district is two alleys away.” Severus snapped, crossing his arms defensively, “Stop calling me darling.” 

The rich man raises his hands as though to calm the angry halfblood. “Now, now that’s not what I meant. That isn’t what I’m after.” he says, like an asshole, “I just want to spend some time with my favorite server.” he adds, sounding like an even bigger asshole.

Severus sputters, “What-spend some time? We barely know each other. You don’t even know my name!” then he adds, “I don’t even know yours!”

“You are Severus Snape, are you not?”

Severus took a small step back, before pushing forward again his hands on the table to glare down at the seated man. “How the fuck do you know that."

The man points at his shirt, he looks down to see his nametag. Severus blushes at his moment of idiocy before looking back at him. “Knowing my name won't get you anywhere with me, sir.”

“Please calm down, darling. I swear upon your virtue that I am not planning anything lecherous.” he placed a hand over his heart. “My name is Thomas, if that helps.”

Severus scoffs, “No it does not, Thomas. And stop calling me darling!”

“But it fits you so perfectly! You look like a darling with dazzling obsidian eyes, even.” Thomas smirks at him as he says this. 

Severus saw red at this man patronizing him. Who the hell does he think he is? 

“Do not assume that I am that desperate for money, you ‘disgusting pub goer’.” 

Thomas merely laughs, a lilt of insanity in his baritone voice. “I think I like you even more.”

Oh god, this man is crazy.

An award should be given to the worst timing because his boss just appeared behind Severus. 

“Boy, what is the hold up! You’re causing me money, and when you’re causing me money, that causes you money! Stop disturbing the poor man and get a move on.” 

Merlin’s crusty beard. His boss is the absolute worst.

“No, no, it’s all my fault. You see, I was hoping to pay for the rest of his shift to come sit down with me. Like a more personal server, you see.” Thomas explains, waving to Severus. 

At the prospect of having more income, his portly boss leans in, “My, why didn’t you say so! That can be arranged easily! Snape, entertain the man will you?” he sent a slight glare, “And make sure he is comfortable, alright? Maybe I’ll consider giving you a raise.”

Severus, tired and so fucking done with everything, could only nod. 

He missed being a cook, that was more tolerable.

His boss and the rich man, Thomas , discussed payment for a full minute before finally coming to an agreement; 20 galleons a night. Holy shit that’s almost a hundred muggle pounds! At the expense of Severus’ dignity!

The young halfblood found himself seated next to Thomas, who was smiling triumphantly at him. Smug asshole.

“Darling Severus, this will be the start of a beautiful relationship.”

Can someone cast an Unforgivable on him now? Or better yet, shoot him with a gun. At least that will put the wizards in a frenzy that would be funny enough to witness beyond the veil.

He could only hope that this can be a one-off thing.

Chapter Text

It was NOT a one-off thing.

In fact, in-fucking-fact, it became an everyday thing.

Remember how Severus thought that Thomas probably had a solid idea of his work schedule? Well, lo and behold he did. Harlow told him that on days he wasn’t there, Thomas wasn’t either. And on days that he was? Well, he is.

The only time Harlow’s ever been there without Severus in was to have a small meeting with his boss. Harlow witnessed the rich man hand a pouch of galleons to the greedy bastard. Ever since then, the pub got cleaner, brighter even. Broken, musty tables were replaced with newer ones. The bar was stocked with better liquor and better glasses. Hell, even the food quality changed for the better. 

This all felt very wrong to Severus, he knew he should probably quit. He will! But…the pay was good, for once. Their boss was finally going about paying them better, and soon enough, 4 more magical folk were hired. 

Again, it felt wrong, like it was a build up to some crazy scheme. Severus, Gardenia and Harlow met up in a little café in Diagon Alley.

“I swear on my magic, this was all that Thomas’ doing.” Harlow declares for about the 5th time in the last 30 minutes.

“Yes, yes we’ve established that. What I want to know is why.” Severus rubs his chin in thought.

Gardenia rolls her eyes, “For the-obviously it's about you, dummy!” she takes a sip of her coffee, “He clearly has the hots for you.” 

He cringes, looking at her, “God knows why! I’m not much to look at. And he’s old!”

“Puh-lease, 30 isn’t that old!”

“It is when you’re 20, dickhead!” 

Harlow, ever the bastard, chimes in “Maybe he’s looking for a sugar baby.”

Gardenia gasps, eyes gleaming like they did when something juicy is happening, “ Hohoho, Severus Snape! You’ve got yourself a sugar daddy.”

Severus, mildly confused and mildly terrified, asked, “And what the hell is a sugar daddy…?”

Gardenia clears her throat and straightens her posture, looking like she was about to give a lecture for a class. “A sugar daddy, typically significantly older, is an individual who seeks out young individuals who are looking for financial assistance in exchange for companionship. This leads to a mutually beneficial relationship.”

“So he’s looking for…company from me? I’m hardly good looking and social, Gardenia.”

She rolls her eyes, “Hardly good-looking? Snape, you look like a proper twink. And you’re really pretty.” She turns to look at Harlow, “He could vouch, right Harlow.”

Harlow nods enthusiastically, “Mhm! You look absolutely divine. I bet Thomas just wants to eat you up. ” He cackled as Severus flushed brightly. Gardenia smacks Harlow on the arm, “Not helping!”

A week later their boss called for a meeting in his back office, also revamped. 

“So, thanks to Severus over here we’ve got a new pub system. It’s been all the rage and I’m willing to bet that it will be even bigger now that the 80s are approaching”

Severus had a really bad feeling.

“Have any of you ever heard of a cabaret club?” they all shook their heads. “Basically a bunch of you will be entertaining guests with a more personal approach. I’m talking about having a sit down with the guests, talking to them, having a drink with them and all that.” 

Severus leans forward, enraged, “They buy our time is it? Isn’t that prostitution?!”

His boss merely barks out a laugh, “No! No! I’ll tell you now it’ll be house rules ‘No sleeping with the escorts’...within the pub at least. The Japanese do it all the time!” 

The new recruit pipes in, “So, it’s just us having a sit down with the guests is it?”

The portly man nods, “Yes, rest assured, any unruly guests will be kicked out. Finally afforded myself a bouncer, see?” He points to the burly man seated at the edge of the room.

“Ralph Piper, at your service.”

His boss sighs happily, “I swear to you lot, this will bring us a lot of business. And that means a lot of money. Imagine all the galleons!” he then adds, “I promise to give all of you a raise, with it.”

His boss finally dismissed the meeting, and Severus found himself walking out in a trance.

This was Thomas’ fault this was his doing…He did it on purpose!

And for what?

His mind went back to the conversation he had with Harlow and Gardenia last week.

“Sugar daddy…he wants me to be his sugar baby. Is he mad!”

He needs to talk to Lily, he’ll visit her tomorrow.

—

“On top of that, my boss wanted to start a new system for the pub. Something about renting their employees’ time to anyone willing to pay.” 

“Sev, I’m pretty sure that’s called prostitution.” 

“That’s what I said!” He raises his hands up in exasperation, “But he denied it, saying something along the lines of ‘there’s no sex involved (within the pub) and ‘being an escort’ and ‘it’s big in Japan’. Whatever the hell that means.”

Lily ponders for a moment, “So you’re telling me. About almost 3 months ago you met this rich man, Thomas, who visits the pub solely for you and is responsible for the major changes…?”

Severus nods.

“...all for the sake of being a…sugar daddy?”

Severus nods again.

Lily was silent for a moment, then she started having a laughing fit. “Oh, Sev…I…Oh Merlin.” She tries to speak between breaths, though her laughter made her unable to.

The bitch.

He smacks her arms, “Oi! Why’re you laughing! This isn’t a laughing matter!” But she was too far gone to listen, leaning back on her sofa to laugh harder.

Severus sighs defeatedly and decides to just wait her out. Salazar give him strength, he’s surrounded by imbeciles.

Finally, after 5 minutes (it’s not even that funny!), she settles down. She leans further into her sofa, rubbing her swollen stomach, “Hooo…Hah, Sev. I’m sorry for laughing.” She giggles again, though she was about to reign it in, “What’re you going to do now? Will you quit?” 

He leans into the sofa, “I want to! But the pay got better, it’s going to get even better when Monday comes around.” 

“I’ll just have to stomach it for now. Entertain…entertain Thomas.” 

“That sounds like you’re going to shag him.”

“I will not!”

Lily waves at him, “I know, I know. I’m just joking around.” she looks at him, “Lucius doesn’t know him?”

“There’s only so much Lucius can know from his first name, blood status and physical attributes alone.” he sighs.

She hums, “Maybe James will know something?”

Severus protests immediately, “No, he cannot know about this! None other than you can know about this!”

Lily made a noise of protest, “Why not!? James’ has been more than civil with you now! Remus too! I can’t really say the same about Sirius and Peter, though…” Lily adds, “Not that we see much of Peter these days.”

“They can’t know. God knows what shit they’ll start when I’ve gotten myself into this situation.”

“What situation?”

The best friends whipped their heads around to see Potter walking further into the living room. “What’s going on with you, Severus?”

“Nothing!” Severus immediately says, then adds, “Don’t call me Severus, Potter.”

Potter rolls his eyes, swiftly leaning down to give Lily a peck on her lips, blegh. “Oh, come on. We’ve been on proper speaking terms for 2 years! That should warrant me a right to call you Severus. In turn, you could call me James.” 

“I’d rather not.” 

Potter rolls his eyes again. Then with a mischievous look in his eyes, swiftly moves to Severus to peck his cheek. Severus squawks, wiping his cheek with his sleeves.

Ignoring this, James stands straight and looks at both of them. “How was your day? How’s little Harry?” 

“All’s been good. Sev here gave me a proper laugh. And Harry is doing great, kicking at my organs.” she coos at her belly, “I love you, but you’re such a headache! Mommy can’t wait for you to get out of her!” She winces, “Oof, it seems he can’t wait to get out too.”

Potter laughs, taking off his trainee Auror cape and slinging it on the sofa’s armrest. 

“Actually-” Potter sits down next to Lily, looking over at Severus, “We’re having a small get together later, just me and the boys with Lily. We’ve got a pretty big announcement, we insist you stay for dinner.”

Lily turned to look at Severus with wide eyes, “That’s right! I forgot that’s why I invited you here in the first place! Stay, please?”

Severus protests, of course, “Nuh-uh. Not with Black around.”

Lily and Potter look at each other for a moment before bombarding Severus with pleas. 

“Sev! Come on! It’s a big announcement!”

“Yeah, Severus! I promise to reign Padfoot in! This is important!”

They continue assaulting him with reasons to stay for dinner, Lily went as far as shaking him vigorously. He truly was surrounded by imbeciles.

He shakes her off, “Alright, Alright! I’ll stay! I truly don’t understand why me being present is such a big deal!” He huffs.

“Dare I say, you both are truly made for one another.”

Potter grins wide, carefully but excitedly crawling over Lily, “That’s the greatest compliment you can ever give me, Severus” this time he gives Severus a massive kiss on the cheek.

“Yuck! Get off me! And stop calling me Severus!” he sends a  tiny stinging hex to James, who just laughs it off, sitting on Lily’s lap carefully. “Merlin knows I preferred when we hated each other.”

“Naw, that can’t be true! Besides, that implies that you no longer hate me.”

Lily and Potter laugh when Severus can't find it in him to deny. 

The mighty truly has fallen

—

Later at 6:30 in the evening, the dinner table was filled with conversation. Everyone was excitedly chattering and recounting their personal adventures. Severus found himself in a relaxed conversation with Remus who was sitting in front of him. 

He feels his eye twitch when another boisterous laugh explodes from next to him, the fact that Black was sat next to him felt like more than a coincidence and Lily sneakily smiling into her juice only proved so.

When Black’s annoying laughter finally died down he finally asked the question, “Say, Prongs. What’s this announcement you’ve got for us today?”

“I guess it's time to tell them. Right, dear?” 

“As per Wizarding standards, there can only be one Godfather and one Godmother. James and I have argued a lot about this but we’ve come to an agreement.” Lily smiles up at Potter when he holds her hand on the table. 

This doesn’t sound good.

“So Sirius, will you do us the honor of being Harry’s Godfather?” Lily looks at him hopeful.

Oh, okay. Crisis averted.

Immediately, Black agrees, “You didn’t even have to ask! I’ll be the best goddamn Godfather out there!” he looks at Severus, “Take that, Sniv.” 

Severus rolls his eyes, “Congratulations, mutt. Is that all? Can I go now?” he winces when he feels Lily kick him from under the table, “Ow! Alright!”

Potter then looks over at Severus, mischief and hope in his eyes. No fucking way.

“Severus,  please do us the honor of being Harry’s Godmother?” 

The room fell into silence, everyone (minus the married bastards) too shocked at the request.

Right, crisis not averted; it got worse.

“Are you out of your mind?!” Severus and Sirius exclaimed at the same time. They glare at each other.

“Nope, we’re in our right mind. We’re serious about this, Sev.” Lily smiles at him tentatively.

“Me as Godmother? Do you hear how absurd that sounds? Will the ministry even allow this?”

Potter conjured up a wad of papers and handed them over to the protesting duo, “They approve of it, it’s funny how many loopholes you can find in our rules and laws.” Remus gives him a disapproving look, he coughs into his fist, “Not that I’d abuse it! It’s merely Marauder instinct at this point!”

Severus side-eyes Black who reads over his shoulder. “Hm, alright I can see your points underlined here.”

Lily pipes in, “If Lucius can have you as a Godfather, then I should be able to have you as a Godmother.” 

“That just means we’re going to be forced to be in the same room often.” Severus looks at Black, who leans back.

“Oh believe me, Sniv! I hate this just as much as you!”

Lily, horrifying, starts tearing up, “You don’t actually hate the idea, do you, Sev?” she sniffles wetly, “I…James and I thought this over for months so we’d have both our favourite people be more involved in Harry’s life.” She rubs her hand on her swollen belly. 

“But if you really don’t want to…”

Black and Severus stares at Lily horrified, even more horrifying Potter and Remus were both looking at him in disappointment.

“Moony! Don’t look at me like that! They’ve basically pushed you to the side! Don’t you want to be a Godparent too?”

Remus shakes his head, smiling amicably, “Oh, no. They promised that I’ll be the Godfather to their second born.” he waves his hands vaguely, “Besides, I’m down to being an unofficial Godfather to Harry in the meantime.”

Severus, who was still staring at Lily, could only sigh, “I don’t think I’m fit for this Lily…”

Lily wipes her eyes, “We’ve talked about this, Sev. I know you’ll be a fit Godmother.”

At that very moment, Severus Snape realizes just how many children he is about to be surrounded with. 

He sighs again, before smiling tentatively again. “Okay, Lily. I’ll be Harry’s Godmother.” he sniffs disdainfully, “Merlin knows he’ll need an intellect in his life to help him prosper.”

The three wixens cheer before him, while Black protests some more (wholeheartedly ignored). 

Watching them all silently, Severus could only let a small smile reside on his face. For all his bitching and moaning, he wouldn’t trade any of this for the world. Except maybe Black, he's down for trading Black for a cornchip anytime.

…Not that he’ll ever tell them, they’ll never live it down.

Chapter Text

Soon enough a handful of Severus’ friends and acquaintances found out about his future godmother status to Lily and Potter’s son. Each reaction may vary.

Lucius called him via floo to bitch and moan about how Lily got first dibs to having the first ever male Godmother in all of Wizarding Britain; it didn’t ( shouldn’t ) feel like such a massive reward than what they're trying to make it as.

A handful of Lily’s girl friends sent him letters of congratulations with a side of passive-aggression. He couldn’t care less. They’ve always hated him and quite frankly, he was indifferent to them.

Regulus Black, though, someone who he was close with in Hogwarts but kind of lost connection with (ahem, death eater, ahem), sent him a howler. Severus sat there for several minutes, his face in his palms as he listened to Regulus’ boisterous cackling. What the hell is up with the Blacks and their unnecessary cackling? There was nothing of importance from the howler. Just laughing. Believe him, he sat through all of 7 minutes of that. 

He doesn’t drink much (for obvious reasons), but the moment the howler caught on fire he walked to the kitchenette and took a massive swig from the cheap wine they had lying around.

“Who’s got you going on a bender, Severus?” 

He turns to look at Alicia who walked into their flat, taking off her boots and shoving them into their shoe rack (read: cardboard box). 

“Just some asshole I know.” he handed her the bottle, to which she took a swig as well.

“It’s not your mystery man Thomas, is it?” She inquires, sitting on the countertop. 

He rolls his eyes, “Not everything is about him, Alicia. This was a friend from school.” 

“Mhm, don’t snark at me, Severus. I don’t know if you’ve noticed but all I’ve heard from your piehole for the past few months is ‘Thomas this’ ‘Thomas that’. Quite frankly, it’s annoying to listen to.” Alicia stares at him with a straight face, easily emphasizing her irritation through that alone.

“Whatever, go read your pervy muggle books now.” Severus snatches the wine back before heading into his bedroom, grabbing the letters on their rickety couch on the way.

“You read them too, big baby.” She calls out, her laughter faint when he slams his door in irritation.

“Oi, don’t forget, Rent is due two days from now, we’ll also be having a small get-together with the other tenants on the roof.” She calls out once more before a faint shuffling around the flat is heard.

—

Another letter arrives that week. The importance of it brought frenzy into Severus, so much so he ran to Lily for moral support.

Lily is sitting on her couch, watching Severus pacing around her living room. In his hand is the letter he received from Master Belby. 

Oh dear LORD! He forgot all about his test the moment he did it. His life was way busier than he intended that he honest to God forgot that Master Hoovers told him to expect a letter from Master Belby as to whether or not he will be able to shift Potion Masters. He stops pacing, looks down at the plain envelope holding his future, and proceeds to pace again.

The redhead clears her throat lightly, “Er, I don’t know about you…but a letter is meant to be read, Sev. Not held while running a hole through my carpet.” 

Severus whips around to look at her, eyes mildly crazed, “But what if I don’t get accepted, Lily!? I don’t want to know that!”

“And what if you do?! You’ll never know if you don’t open the letter, Sev!” She stands up, grunting with effort. 

“Then we’ll never find out because I’m not opening this letter!” He says childishly, crossing his arms. 

Lily groans.

“Seeeeeev! This isn’t Schrödinger’s letter! Open it, open it!” She tries to grab for the letter but he quickly raises it above his head, barring her from doing so. Haha, short bitch.

“Hmrg, fine! But if I don’t get accepted, you cannot, will not!” he pauses, lowering his arms slowly and unconsciously hugging the letter to his chest, “Mock me for crying about it.”

She nods, “Of course, I won’t mock you for crying, Sev…I’m with you on this, if you don’t get accepted I’ll cry with you. I’ll even drink non-alcoholic wine with you.” 

He scoffs, “That isn’t good for the baby, idiot. Non-alcoholic drinks still have alcohol in them.”

“What?” She screeches, before shaking her head, “No, I’ll worry about that later, remind me to castrate James later. Don’t change the subject. Open. The. Letter.” 

Severus says nothing more, looking from her bright eyes then down to the letter. “Like a bandaid…” he rips the envelope open, being mindful of the wax seal.

Lily watches him with anticipation and apprehension upon seeing his face go slack with shock.

“What…what’s the verdict, Sev?”

Not looking up, he answers her.

“I’ve…I’ve been accepted… Master Belby is taking me in as a transferee apprentice…” Severus says faintly, unbelieving as he reads the first lines of the letter.

“What?!” Lily snatches the parchment from his hands and reads it herself rapidly. “Oh, sweet Morgana! You have! It even says here that you will be credited in any potion you create and in the ones you collaborate with! It does say here that you’ll need a hand at funding projects and whatnot, but still! Oh, Severus, congratulations!” She throws her arms around his waist, beyond happy for her best friend. He loosely wraps his arms around her shoulders, still staring off into space.

“That means…that means I can…the wolfbane project. It can happen, I can help make it happen…” 

Lily tears up, looking up at Severus, “It means you can help Remus.”

He harrumphs, “I’m not doing this for him!” he pauses, looking at the side bashfully, “...Not entirely…”

She laughs while pulling away from him, “It’s about that tearful speech he gave you, isn’t it. Back in Hogwarts?”

She laughs harder when he glares at her, blushing fiercely, “No, it’s not! Don’t bring that up!”

“I swore to never let you live it down, didn’t I?”

“Damn you, Lily Potter.”

“I love you too, Severus Snape.”

They have an impromptu picnic party in the garden. Celebrating his acceptance letter with juice boxes, flowers, and snacks, reminiscent of their childhood. Their afternoon is filled with laughter and rapid fire talking, both beyond excited that finally, both their dreams are coming true almost at the same pace (Granted, Lily has to postpone her Charms Mastery due to her pregnancy, but still. ). This moment, Severus ponders, is probably enough to conjure the strongest Patronus in their generation.

—

Tuesday evening came around and Severus apparates at the back alley of the pub, hastily and carefully shoving wads of contracts into his bag before heading inside. He visited Master Belby’s school of Potioneers to discuss a new contract with both Master Belby and Master Hoovers. Not much has changed, he still has the restrictions from his contract with his soon-to-be previous master; unpaid, and no jobs in Muggle London.

Meaning, Severus still has to keep his irritating, out-of-control job.

He doesn’t care, though.

Severus is on a roll and he won’t let anything bother him or get in his way, not even his shit job. Not even Thomas.

Speaking of Thomas, the man has been watching him with a strange glint under his amused eyes for the past 3 hours. This immediately irritated Severus. He looks around briefly seeing Gardenia sitting at another table, with her is the new recruit as they both entertain the groupie at their table. He turns to look back at Thomas, still staring at him.

“What are you staring at me for?” he snaps, taking his usual seat next to him. 

Thomas' lips tilted up into a smirk, “Hm, nothing, darling. I just find it funny that the months that we’ve spent together, I’ve never seen you this happy.” he tilts his head, as though observing Severus from another angle, “Stay that way, it’s a good look on you.” he winks.

Eck, asshole. Severus rolls his eyes, ignoring the way his stomach flutters.

“Hmph, if you must know. I’ve been accepted to transfer to a new potion’s master.” 

The man hums, his maroon eyes boring into Severus’ pitch black ones. “My, congratulations! May I know who your new Potion Master is?” He leans one arm on the table, his hand holding his tilted head up as he looks at Severus.

The shorter man squints his eyes suspiciously before replying, “Master Damocles Belby.”

Thomas’ eyes glitter with recognition, “Ah, Damocles Belby! Yes, yes, I’ve read a few of his works. Intelligent man, very unconventional too.” Thomas looks away and raises his hand to wave down a server, “Now, this truly calls for celebration. We need your finest liquor. Something strong.” he looks back at Severus as the server shuffles away to get his order.

Severus scoffs, “If this is your way of getting me to drink, it won’t work.”

Thomas honest-to-God pouts at him, “Naw, don’t be like that, darling! I know you don’t like drinking, but surely we can make an exemption for today?” 

Jokes on you, old man. I’ve already made an exemption, in honor of Regulus Black’s rude ass just a few days ago.

“I can’t and refuse to be bothered to drink just because you want to celebrate.”

Thomas raises an eyebrow staring at him for a moment before smiling at him with a mischievous glint in his eyes, “I think-” he leans in, causing Severus to lean back, “-you can’t and refuse because you can’t actually handle your liquor well.”

Severus’ eye twitched at Thomas’ audacity. 

“I’m going to be taking your silence as a yes. Worry not, darling. You can stick with non-alcoholic options. I’ll drink enough for the both of us.”

Oh fuck this patronizing man, and his patronizing tone and his patronizing smile. 

Irritated and unable to stop himself, he exclaims, “I bet I could drink you under the table, Thomas.”

  Severus, this doesn’t sound like a very good idea, his subconscious mumbles out, which he stubbornly ignored.

“Ho? Is that a challenge then?” Thomas asks with a smirk on his face.

“Prepare to get your ass kicked.”

—

It was Severus who had his ass kicked. Not that it was a surprise. You don’t have to be into divination to see that shit from a mile away.

“Give…give me another shot!” He slurred out, slumped over their table, his head pillowed by an empty bottle of vodka he was cuddling. Thomas, with a bright tipsy flush on his face, merely laughs.

“I think that’s enough for you, darling.” he slid Severus’ shot glass away from him, “You’re wasted.”

Severus glares at him, “Fucking shut the fuck up, you don’t know that! You just want wanna win.” he hiccups, “Which you won’t, so give me another shooooot.”

Thomas tuts, finally taking any liquor away, given there were only two bottles of vodka, one Severus was cuddling and the other of which was only a 3rd of the way empty. He calls out for Harlow, asking him to take the bottle to be drunk for another time. Severus doesn’t pay attention to the short conversation going on next to him; well, more like he can’t. He tries to concentrate hard in order to listen in, but it ends up fruitless as he concentrates on concentrating, forgetting the purpose of it midway.

“Come on, darling. Let’s get you home.” he hears Thomas through his drunken haze, feeling himself being pulled to sit straight.

“Okay,” he mumbles out, vaguely aware of a woman securing his bag across his torso. Gardenia? What does this American want?

“Snape? Sweety, drink some water before you leave,” she says softly, bringing a glass of water to his lips.

He takes a gulp before pushing it away, frowning, “Mh, water tastes bad.” 

She laughs softly, “Snape, come on. You’ll feel better when you drink.” She manages to convince him to finish the whole glass, and he does feel a bit better. He still feels sloshed as fuck, but a better sloshed. He can walk properly, at least.

The next thing Severus knows, he’s outside the pub cuddling up to someone’s arm. This arm is familiar, he thinks. Feels like a handsome pervert, he thinks again.

“Whose arm is this? I want’a see you.” Severus looks up abruptly for absolutely no reason, the momentum plus his drunken state almost making him fall flat on his back if it weren’t for the sudden hands around his waist. 

Oh, it’s just Thomas.

“Oh, it’s just you.”

“Darling, please. Be careful.” Thomas laughs lightly, although the grip on his waist was tight.

Speaking of waist.

“I think I left my belt in the men’s room,” he mutters, looping his fingers through the belt loop of his trousers. 

Thomas sighs, “Why’s it in the men’s room?” He sets Severus upright, making him lean against the entrance of the pub’s alley.

“My…my stomach hurted. The belt is too tight.” he then adds, “I’ve had that since I was 12, you know. Very small, but it fits. Just hurts a bit.” he rambles on, watching Thomas set a box–his briefcase–on the ground. “I really want it back, me mum bought me it. I even added little studs on it, I’ve seen local punks do it. I think punks are neat; anarchy and all that.” he rambles some more.

Thomas goes upright, hand on the wall to keep himself balanced, laughing. “I’ve never seen you this talkative before, darling. It really is a good look on you. Cute even.” 

“M’not cute, I’m punk, I think,” Severus replies. Thomas chuckles some more before finally pushing away from the cold wall of the alley.

“Darling, I need you to listen, alright? Stay here and don’t wander off. We’re still in Knockturn Alley, dangerous men and women loiter around. Here–” Thomas takes off his coat, wrapping it around Severus, who hasn’t realized that he was shivering from the cold (a shitty fucking sweater will do that to you), “–I’ll only be gone for a minute, alright darling? I’ll get you your tiny belt.” 

“With the studs.”

“With the studs,” Thomas replies dutifully, taking one more look at Severus before walking off into the pub.

Severus stands there, slumped over in the silence. His arms cross over his chest, his pale hands clutching onto the massive coat of the perverted pureblood. He’s lucky he smells nice. Severus sasses to himself, breathing in the earthy and minty smell of his cologne. 

“It’s like I’m camping in toothpaste.” he giggles to himself, snuggling further into the coat. If he wasn’t so fucking wasted he would have known that his giggle caught the attention of a passerby, leering at him. He also would have heard the hurried footsteps from the passerby, maybe even the goddamn aura of nasty-ass-bitch that was emanating from him.

But no, he was too fucking drunk to focus on anything other than the warm coat.

He felt a hand grip his arm before being dragged off further into the alleyway. He stumbles but the hand doesn’t seem to care. 

“Oi! Thomas, what’re you trying to do, you perverted bitch!” He slurs out, letting out an ‘oof’ when he is rudely slammed against the wall.

“Thomas…?” He finally focuses on the figure in front of him. Who the fuck is this?

“You’re not Thomas.” He states, cringing drunkenly when the ugly man leans in.

“Mhm, seems like this Thomas bloke left you all alone in little Knockturn Alley. Worry not, I’ll keep you company.” he grins, laughing when he feels Severus push at his chest.

“Fuck off!” Severus grunts when his hands are pushed to the wall on either side of him, “Let me go! If I wasn’t so hammered, I could hex you into a fucking puddle! I will! Just let me go.” he growls out, struggling weakly.

“Oh, I’m sure you can. Now come here, give us a little kiss.” Oh god, someone please stop this man. I don’t want his nasty ass lips on me! Ew, ew, ew, ew–

“He’s right, you know.” he hears from far away, slumping in drunken relief when he notes that it is a familiar voice. Now, this is a pervert he’d tolerate.

“Were he sober he’d curse you, hex you, cause you pain ten time over.” Thomas says, ignoring the wand that was directed at him. “Luckily for you, you’ll only have to deal with me.”

“And I’m feeling impatient, so I’ll make this quick”

“Fuck’re you on about? I called first dibs on ‘im already.” Grunts the nasty stranger, stepping towards Thomas a bit to intimidate, failing.

“Oh gods, I’m too hammered for this.” Severus groans silently, watching the two men posture at one another. 

“Hang on, darling. Let me just-” Thomas was cut off by a bright burst of light hurdling his way, flicking his own wand to redirect the ray away from his body. “-finish this, then we’ll get you home.” 

At the mention of home, Severus smiles sleepily. At this point, he’s back to zoning in and out of the situation. He only hears a handful of spells being used.

“ Stupefy. ”

Pah, Thomas should be ashamed if he can’t block a spell like that.

“ Expelliarmus. Silencio. ”

Alright, Thomas, you’re on the right track.  

“Crucio.”

…

Hm? That’s odd. 

For a moment there Severus thought for sure he heard something illegal being used…but, he doesn’t hear any tortured screaming so it’s probably fine. Maybe he is just hearing things.

He is drunk as fuck.

Severus lets out a soft ‘oof’ when he feels someone pull him against them. The smell of fresh earth and mint immediately surrounded his senses. He hums in delight, rubbing his face against the solid chest of Thomas. 

I sure hope Thomas is just as drunk as I am, then maybe neither of us would have to remember this embarrassing display.

He feels Thomas vibrate with laughter, “Are you alright, darling?”

“Mhm, you smell better than the nasty man,” Severus mumbles into his chest.

“Hm, he was nasty, wasn’t he?” He hears him say as feels Thomas shift, “ Obliviate.”

Thomas pulls away from him saying, “Give me a moment, darling.” Severus groans when he feels the cool air wafting over him. Why is it so cold anyway, it’s in the middle of fucking summer. Is this what the muggles are calling climate change? He really should read more on muggle sciences, he’s truly missing out.

Severus refocuses just in time to hear Thomas speak the last bits, “And you’ll march yourself to the nearest Auror station and hand yourself in for sexual assault. Insist you are guilty if I see you roaming free…well…” Aaaand, he’s zoning out again.

This one seems longer because the last thing he remembers is the warm feeling returning to him and the smell of earth and mint enveloping him once more.

Hm...I wonder if he knows my address.

Chapter Text

Severus feels his stomach churn before he actually gains consciousness.

“Fucking Christ. ” he gags out, sluggishly rolling to his side feeling his stomach take a bigger turn for the worse.

He held that position for a minute, before finally realizing that he isn’t going to be throwing up any time soon. That realization gave way to the pounding headache hammering around his poor, poor head.

This is why I do not drink. How can dear old dad like this crap?

He smacks his lips together, his tongue feeling drier than Dumbledore’s ancient ankle dry skin. The thought alone made his stomach stir up again. His skin feels absolutely disgusting in yesterday’s clothes, some areas stained with shit he would much rather not dwell on, lest he tests the integrity of his poor stomach for the 4th time in one sitting.

How’d he get home anyway? He cannot remember anything beyond the 15th-20th shot of vodka he had.

Thomas, the asshole! Is this what he wanted?

Fucking pervert.

With the will of all his ancestors, he forces his muscles to keep him upright as he damn near crawls out his bedroom. He groans when he hears high-spirited singing from the kitchenette. Severus squinted through the too-bright-too-sunny room to see Alicia on the stove, enthusiastically cooking up an uncomfortably greasy-looking meal.

She turns upon hearing his feet dragging heavily across the floor, “Oi! Good afternoon, Snape! Have some lunch!” She says almost at the top of her lungs, making him groan in discomfort.

“Alicia Jeika, of all the times you choose to be loud and enthusiastic…why do you choose the day I feel like I’ve been stomped on by an Erumpent.”

She scoffs, roughly scraping the eggs onto two plates, “I would have been my hardass self, if it weren’t for the fact that I was roughly woken up at fuck o’clock in the morning! To a wasted Severus Snape no less!” 

Alicia harrumphs, “Be glad that Thomas was a sight for sore eyes, polite too.”

His eyes widens, which clenches shut with a groan, “Thomas?! What was he doing here?” he asks, horrified.

“Who do you think dragged your sorry ass home?” She chortles, “Apparently you had him apparating all around London trying to get here with your vague instructions.”

The intense blush that rushes to his cheeks colors his face against the sickly hangover pale green his skin was sporting. Holy shit, holy shit. He slams his head against the center counter of their kitchenette, regretting it immediately but unwilling to move his head from the cool counter.

That’s it. I’m never going beyond tipsy ever. Fuck it, I’ll quit drinking. He thinks all this fleetingly.

Merlin’s saggy asshole, he’ll need to run away from the country now; ditch the whole continent even! He’s going to have to change his name and transfigure his body to move to Indonesia or something. Southeast Asia is quite the hub for potioneers, he wouldn’t have any issue carrying his mastery there. Renowned Potion’s Master Damocles Belby be damned.

Alicia abruptly interrupts his rapid-fire runaway plans by placing a plate in front of him, “‘Yan, eat first, spiral into your embarrassment later.”

He lifts his head up to the sight of oily eggs and bacon with a side of–“How’d you manage to make French toast so fucking greasy?” he takes a bite, “And savory…?” it tastes delicious so he isn’t really complaining.

She rolls her eyes, taking a bite from her own breakfast while also handing him a mug of black coffee.

“Eat up, then have some hangover potion. Tall, dark and handsome dropped by again to give you some.” she then mumbles out, “Wish I could find me a man like that…Just kidding, I’m a fucking lesbian.”

He ignores her comment in favor of her earlier comment, “He dropped me home and then he drops by again to give me potions…” he murmurs around a bite of French toast, “He knows where I live now. He actually knows my address.” he mewls sadly, nibbling on the bacon pathetically.

“T’was bound to happen, Severus. If he’s aiming to be your boyfriend, that is.”

“He isn’t my boyfriend!” Severus stabs at the eggs, irritated that Thomas is being accused of being his lover once again. People need to fuck off, honestly.

Alicia rolls her eyes, swallowing a gulp of coffee, “Not yet . Like I just said, he is aiming to be your boyfriend,” she then hums in thought, “Or at the very least, he’s trying to shag you.”

Unprepared to hear such crass words way too fucking early (Early being one in the afternoon; he just woke up! Get off his dick!), Severus accidentally inhales a piece of egg. He coughs harshly trying to dislodge it from his throat, thumping his fist hard against his chest. He gags as the egg shifts just enough to slide down his esophagus instead. Fuck. 

He takes a gulp of water, then hoarsely peeps out, “A little help would have been nice. You nearly choked me, you bitch.”

She cackles, flipping him off.

Sigh.

He’s thankful that Master Belby gave him a day before coming in, so he’s able step away from both his mastery for the time being.

Thinking this he decides to have a lazy day in his bedroom. 

He sits on the rickety little window nook with a muggle novel in hand and proceeds to read the day away, before he has to head for work at least.

Or at least, he tries to.

His mind keeps wandering back to the night before, an uneasy feeling settling in his chest. Don’t get Severus wrong, he knows what alcohol can do to your memory. This doesn’t help him shake off the feeling that he should be remembering something important. 

That or he just really wants to know what he did to (with) Thomas. 

Severus flushes, burying his face into the book. He is notoriously cuddly whenever he gets drunk, this little fact was unfortunately discovered by Remus Lupin on the receiving end of Severus’ more…somber drinking sessions.

Let’s just say Lily witnessed Lupin’s diligent role as a human mattress-human tissue combo.

With that floating in his memories, Severus thinks about what he could have done to Thomas. He sure hopes he didn’t call him handsome or anything. A man like that didn’t need anymore compliments thrown his way. That just feeds whatever God complex Severus sometimes senses from Thomas. Or is it narcissism? Aren’t they the same thing?

Muggles have way too many words for things. 

Severus slightly bumps his forehead to the book, trying to focus on whatever thought he is barely grasping on to. Lupin? Cuddly drunk? Thomas’ psychology?

“It’s my day off! It’s my day off from my studies, can I not think about Thomas for at least an hour please?” he bitches to himself, glaring at the book in hopes to focus on it.

…

Fucking fine! He ditches the book and instead stares out the window to delve into his thoughts. Predictably going back to last night.

He wants (needs) to ask Thomas what happened, but Severus knows deep down that his pride won’t allow him that. So he uses this time to prepare himself to wear it down just enough to ask about last night. No matter how embarrassing.

—

In the end, Severus barely manages to swallow his pride. The evening came around lighting quick when he begrudgingly apparates into the familiar back alley of the pub. He managed to read the book for a bit, indulging his bookworm ways, but alas, all good things must come to an end.

In the form of a minimum wage job.

With a world weary sigh, he steps into the backdoor and is almost immediately bombarded by Gardenia.

“Snape! How are you feeling?”

Harlow butts in before Severus could dignify her with a reply, “You aren’t feelin’ sore are you, mate? Mr. Thomas is bursting with smug energy at the moment and it’s telling me that something went down.” Harlow backtracks, “Or rather, some one went down…on you… or him.”

Severus pushes against them to go to their logbook and leaves his magical signature, “...I don’t know if anything happened between me being at the pub and me arriving home. But I didn’t feel…sore. Just a hangover, really.” he says with mild uncertainty.

“So your butt doesn’t hurt at all?” Harlow shies away from the smack Gardenia unleashes on his bicep, “Oi! I’m just asking the important questions! Don’t think I don’t see that glint in your eye, Dominique! You want to know just as much as I do. Pah, gossip.” he scoffs, crossing his arms.

Gardenia harrumphs, “I’m not as insensitive as you are, Harlow. I may be curious but Snape’s wellbeing comes first.”

Harlow mimics her mockingly with a high pitched tone to which Severus snorts.

“I promise, I’m feeling fine. I also promise that I have a feeling that nothing really happened…I hope.” The trio walks into the main area where Severus immediately makes eye contact with Thomas who is smiling like he knows something he didn’t.

Bollocks.

The black woman sighs, “That was the first time I’ve seen Snape so unapologetically cute. You kept mumbling about stupid friendly Americans and water being nasty. Let’s talk later, Snape!” Severus glares at her as she walks off giggling, sitting by the bar where a patron starts to enthusiastically speak to her.

Harlow opens his mouth, presumably to tease him as well but Severus decides he didn’t want to deal with it. With a wandless and wordless stinging hex, he stalks off to Thomas. The man has been staring at him this entire time. It’s nothing new, but with the impending thought of what happened that night, Severus is feeling more queasy over talking to him.

He sits down silently, unsure of what to say. They continue to just stare at one another, letting the sounds of the pub carry on around them. Slowly, Severus starts getting twitchy, his mind screaming at him to look away. But something in him is stopping him from doing so, perhaps it’s his pride; he’s got an abundance of those. That didn’t stop his hands to start fidgeting under the unnerving maroon look fixed back into him. It almost felt like Thomas’ reading his thoughts; knowing him, he might as well be. Legilimency is a rare practice of magic, but Thomas seems like the type to be powerful enough to do it.

Holy shit he might actually have been reading his mind this whole time.

Severus gapes when Thomas’ mouth twitches into a subtle smile.

With a cough the halfblood turn away, finally breaking their staring contest.

“...Thank you…for bringing me back home safely…” he forces out, to break the silence, “Not that I asked you! You could have left me here, I’d find my way back home eventually.” 

Not true, Lupin could easily testify.

“Now that won’t do. What if someone takes advantage of you? You seem like a powerful wizard but even the strongest can succumb to their inebriation, darling.” 

Severus doesn’t say anything, knowing deep down that Thomas is right. He hates that he’s right.

“Be that as it may. I…” he trails off, hesitant to continue his line of thought.

Thomas sits there patiently, almost as though he knows what Severus is trying to say.

“Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?” He continues with great struggle.

The rich man just sits on, observing Severus with a smile. Or is it a smirk, he couldn’t tell but it doesn’t seem to matter; he looks like an asshole either way.

“No-nothing like whatever you’re thinking, pervert! I can, uh, brew for you? Or babysit any child you have in your life. Or, or I can do your groceries for the next two weeks? I’m really good at budgeting.” Severus rambles, his nerves getting the best of him.

Thomas raises his hand which halts him from his babbling.

“All I ask is for you to accompany me for an errand.” The pureblood says lightly.

Severus tilts his head to the side in confusion, “Accompany you? I can easily run the errand for you.” 

Thomas chuckles, looking away for a second before looking back at him. He leans his forearm on the table to move closer to Severus, who backs away slightly.

“It’s not that I need you to do it for me. It’s as I said, I want you to accompany me. I want you to keep me company while I go about my business for the day.” 

Severus sneers in disbelief, “As opposed to sitting with me here every evening? Don’t we dwell in each other’s presence enough?” 

Thomas laughs a little louder this time (Totally unnecessary), “I quite enjoy your presence, darling. And from what I got from last night, so did you.”

The halfblood blushes, “I-speaking of last night. Did…did something happen? We didn’t…” Severus trails off, unsure of what to say and how to say it.

The pureblood took pity on the stuttering man and answered his half baked question, “Nothing happened, I swore on you virtue that I wouldn’t try anything impure to you, didn’t I?” 

“You were also extremely inebriated, I wouldn’t take advantage of you like that.” Thomas says.

Severus sighs in relief, feeling a weight being lifted from his stomach, “Thank fucking God.” he mumbles to imself.

“Although, I do recall you telling me that I smell extremely good. Something along the lines of ‘Minty camping’? It was quite the sight.” Thomas looks down, “ Oh, look, you’re even wearing your tiny belt with the studs, you were adamant that I didn’t forget about the studs.” 

Severus’ cheeks flushes tenfold, embarrassed to hear the things he did from Thomas. Unable to stop himself, he launches himself forward and places both his hands on the rich man’s mouth, “Stop! Stop, I don’t want to hear it.” He squeaks out.

Thomas laughs from under his palms, the vibration traveling to his wrists. He takes his hands into his larger ones, “Alright, I’ll stop.” 

He smiles mischievously, “Just accompany me tomorrow and this’ll be as good as forgotten.” 

Severus gapes, snatching his hands back, “No, don’t be sneaky like that! I don’t want to go on a date with you.” he grumps out.

“My, I never said anything about a date.” Thomas leers at him, to which Severus sneers.

“Date, errand, a fucking walk in the park I don’t care! I still don’t want to go.”

Thomas sighs out, “Then I guess you want to hear more about how cuddly you get? You don’t know this but you had me apparate to a park, we took a break due to your queasiness and you were so cute when you-”

Severus quickly cuts him off, “Fine! I’ll do it. I’ll go on that stupid errand with you. Please just shut the hell up.” he then adds, “It’s not a date, though! This is just your little…rewards for taking me home safely…and for the hangover potion. And for keeping your mouth shut over last night.”

Thomas leans back on his chair, the self-satisfied smile he has been sporting the entire night returning to his face. It’s a really handsome look but it’s also extremely insufferable.

“Thank you, darling,” he says.

“I have an orientation in the morning, though. So I won’t be available until 11:30.” Severus pipes out.

Thomas nods, “That’s alright, we aren’t on a time crunch. We can even have lunch before then.” at Severus’ glare he hastily adds, “Not in a date way of course. In more of a companionable way.” 

Severus harrumphs, “Very well, tomorrow around 11:30 to 12, we’ll meet.” 

“Yes we will.” Thomas agrees.

“Now, this conversation left me parched. Perhaps it’s time to order some drinks.” Thomas says, raising his hand up to call for a waiter.

“No more alcohol…please.” 

“That I can agree with.”

Chapter Text

Severus apparates into Diagon Alley having come from his orientation at Master Belby’s school of Potioneers. The meeting was extremely interesting, the details his new potion’s master had said in his speech was enough to bring forth a rush of motivation and inspiration. Weirdly enough it ended about 10 minutes earlier than scheduled.

Severus takes this time to feed into his new found determination to be the best goddamn potions master out there, walking towards Flourish and Blotts to canvas some books he would most likely have to save up for. 

The little bell on top of the store dings softly as he steps in, the smell of books immediately putting him at ease. It reminded him of the Hogwarts library, although his school life had been a fucking mess (not to mention his adult life as well) the library always serves as a safe haven for him. 

N’aw, look at him getting all nostalgic over an awful academic experience.

He walks towards the herbology aisle, ignoring the rattling he heard, and starts scouring for interesting reads. He knows that herbology and potions are heavily intertwined and decided that he should focus on knowing the principles of potentially 60 percent of ingredients used for potioneering.

He takes out a little muggle notepad and pen, listing out the names of books that caught his eye. He’d take the book out, riffle through it before deciding whether or not it was worth his time and money then place it back into the shelf. Rinse and repeat.

One book in particular piques his interest. He wants to have a look at it but there seems to be a slight issue. The issue being that it was 13 shelves up; meaning it was out of reach and expensive. He looked side to side for the ladder designated to this particular bookshelf. He follows the sound of rattling.

Why…why is the ladder shaking ?

Out of Order: Will Break Many Bones.

He sighs to himself, “Just my luck.” 

Using his wand is not an option, this place held too many valuable books. The magical concentration in this establishment would react negatively to any form of magic performed. With that in mind, he goes onto his tippy toes in an attempt to reach for the tome.

For several minutes he stands there, trying to reach for the item. He knows that he could easily ask for employee help, but he had seen a handful of them flocked around the cash register. Severus assumes that they were busy and at the moment he did not have the capacity to interact with people, especially that he was about to have to interact with a certain pureblood with a knack for annoying him immensely. 

So, because of his little confrontation with the bookshelf, Severus fails to notice the presence behind him.

Severus yelps as he feels hands on his waist, before being hoisted up. The book he was reaching for is now eye-level to him but this isn’t what he wants, this isn’t what he needs. Who the fuck wants to die by his hands today? What the fuck? What the actual fuck?

“Oi! Put me down, you dickhead!” he paws at the large hands on his waist while trying to get a look at the person behind him. The person behind him grunts at the struggling weight he’s carrying.

“Just get your book, darling.”

Of-fucking-course. 

“Thomas…put me down before I commit multiple crimes on you.” Severus says slowly. Thomas merely scoffs. “Just get your book, Severus. Then I’ll put you down. Can’t you see I’m helping you?” 

“There are so many, and way better ways, for you to help me, Thomas! Now put me down!”

“Get your book first!” 

“Holy shi-fine!” Severus snatches the thick tome from the shelf and lightly slams it against Thomas’ head, “Can you put me down now? Fucking please?”

“Since you said please so sweetly.” Severus sighs in relief when he feels the floor against his boots then turns to look Thomas in the eye who was grinning widely.

He sneers and walks away, not bothering to say anything else to the rich man. Unfortunately the man takes that as a sign to follow him around. “Stop stalking me, stalker.” 

“Why, how can one stalk one's date? We did agree to meet at Diagon Alley, did we not?” 

“It’s not a date! I specifically said that it’s not a date. It’s an errand that you’re asking me to accompany you for!” Severus bitches out, before realizing that he is holding a book he has no plans to buy. One look at the summary has him thinking not yet, anyway.

Ignoring the man curiously looking over his shoulder, he writes down the name of the tome. 

“Now what’s this?” Thomas asks, hand reaching for the notepad Severus is holding.

Severus snatches his hand away, walking back into the aisle, “None of your business.” He looks back up at where the book once was. He did not want to go through that again.

He slams the book towards Thomas, who let out a small ‘oof’ from the impact. “Put this back, please. ” He sarcastically says, crossing his arms as he watches Thomas easily placing the book back onto the shelf.

God, this man truly is insufferable.

Thomas turns back to look at him, a pleasant smile on his face. Severus scoffs and walks away. 

“What? No ‘Thank you, Thomas’?’ The pureblood laughs, following Severus out of the bookstore. 

Severus rolls his eyes, “Whatever. Now, what are these errands you’re meant to do? Where do we start?” he asks, crossing his arms as he looks at Thomas. Now that he’s got a better look at him he realized that the pureblood isn’t wearing the same 3 piece suit he associated the man with. Thomas is dressed in a button up white shirt and maroon trousers. He seems to have paired the outfit with oxford shoes, making him look smart casual; or whatever the hell fashionistas call it.

His outfit is the complete opposite of Severus’ all black apparel. Good, at least they don't match. 

Severus snaps out of his thoughts when Thomas’ voice floats towards him.

“Now, why the hurry? I did say that I’m not in a time crunch. Let's grab some lunch first. My treat.” He steps closer to Severus, placing one large hand at the small of his back to coax him into walking. With a grumble, the halfblood does.

Severus finds himself sitting at a secluded table at a small and near empty café. Forgetting that he is supposed to hate the companionable errand run, he looks around in bright curiosity. The place is a bit too bubbly and posh for his taste, but the aesthetic of the establishment with the hanging plants and large windows bringing in natural light definitely drew him in.

“Do you like it? I stumbled upon this place 4 years ago. They serve great meals and their drinks are something I’ve found myself coming back for all the time. Comfy, no?” Thomas says, with a relaxed smile on his face. Severus couldn’t find it in him to be annoyed or to scowl, opting to nod distractedly when he sees a fucking bird perched on a flower pot.

That can’t be up to health code.

His attention snaps back to Thomas who is watching him amused, “Do you want to have a look at the menu? You can ponder upon birds some more of course.” The pureblood teases.

Severus scowls, a faint blush tainting his cheeks. He decides not to rise to the bait and instead looks down at the menu. The options were too pricey for comfort, but he supposes that he has enough money to spare.

The waiter comes by and takes their orders, Thomas has some pretentious coffee blend and some grilled salmon with fancy toppings while Severus opts for the cheaper options.

“How was your orientation?” Thomas asks when the waiter walks off.

Severus answers him, slightly closed off “It went really well, actually. The school proves to be promising.”

To be truthful, it was barely a school. There were only 3 other people under Damocles Belby’s guidance. Rupert Knots, who’s main project was on the theoretical stages of healing against the long term harm of the Cruciatus curse. Valeria Guzman, a witch who's passionate about the use of potions on muggle disorders such as Dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Lastly there’s Ada Pearl, who wants to focus on attempting strictly plant-based potions alternatives. They were all incredibly bright and Severus is honestly excited to be working alongside them.

But of course he’s not going to tell Thomas that.

Thomas nods, “I see, I see.” then his face morphs to one of curiosity, “There is something I’ve been meaning to ask. A hypothesis of some sorts.” 

Severus takes a sip from his water, gesturing with his hand for Thomas to continue.

“Say if you were to have a potion, a pepper up for example, and had it pumped through a…humidifier, would it be just as effective as consuming it orally?” Thomas asks, waving his hands around while he does so.

That makes the halfblood hum, “Well-” Severus stops, “You know what a humidifier is?” 

Thomas rolls his eyes, “I’ve been outside of Wizarding Britain I assure you.”

Severus nods, only slightly flustered, “Sorry, well as I was saying…that’s not something I can answer with full confidence. I admit I’ve not thought of that.” Then he adds, “That is an interesting question, though.”

“Just give me any assumptions you have in mind, it is purely hypothetical after all.” 

Severus tilts his head, eyes drifting back to the bird who is now cuddling up to another bird. “Hm…you’d have to take into account how thick the humidity level is. Say you were just standing over a cauldron boiling with potions, the fumes would have just the barest effect on you; whether it be a healing potion or a poison.”

The cogs in his brain start turning as he mulls it over more, “But if it were to be condensed into an apparatus intended for releasing moist air, like a humidifier, then I think it could be effective…just not as much.” he hums, “...thinking about it, I think those muggle bombs would work perfectly. You know those smoke grenades muggle aurors like to throw at activists to irritate the lungs? Those are more concentrated than a humidifier. But then again that would be too violent for healers to utilize. So maybe an oxygen tank-like device should be preferable.” 

Severus squints his eyes at Thomas, who is listening intently, “This is for healing, right?”

Thomas shrugs, “Either or both, it truly is interesting and a relief that someone finally answered my question.”

The halfblood raises his eyebrow, “What do others say?”

The rich man sighs, rubbing his forehead, “What the fuck is a humidifier.”

“Typical pureblooded behavior.” Severus snorts, even though he is very clearly talking to a pureblood.

Their conversation is put on hold when the waiter finally returns with a tray of their food. They tuck into their respective meals, occasionally talking.

Soon enough they finish eating. Thomas waves at a waiter and gives the signal for their bill. At that, Severus digs into his bag for his pouch. The pureblood raises his hand to stop him.

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll pay.” 

Severus frowns, “I don’t think that’s fair to you, though.” he says even though his subconscious dances at the prospect of saving money. He is but a simple man.

Thomas smiles kindly, “I assure you it’s not. I am, after all, the one who invited you out for this errand.”

Seeing no flaw in his logic, Severus finally agrees. His subconscious whooping at the free meal. 

‘Shut up, you sound desperate.’ He growls at his subconscious

His subconscious croons, ‘But think about the savings! You’ll be able to buy at least one book from the list!’

Well, he can’t argue with logic.

He is brought back to present by Thomas standing up. Severus hurries to follow his lead. They step out of the café and proceed to walk left and  into the, surprisingly, empty path of Horizont Alley.

His surprise must have been clear on his face because Thomas pipes out an answer to his internal question. 

“It’s why I chose today to be our errand day. There usually aren't a lot of people milling about on Thursdays.” 

Severus nods, before asking, “So where do we start?”

“We start here.” Thomas stops in front of a store.

Severus looks up and reads ‘Tobacconist’ on the old and chipped signboard. He looks back at Thomas who is holding the door open for him.

My, He thought dryly, what a gentleman.

“I didn’t know you smoked.” He says, walking into the store. Thomas follows after.

“I don’t. But I’ve got a meeting coming up in a few days and I need a gift for a good first impression.” Thomas says lightly, already looking through the multiple smoking pipes on display. Merlin, every single one looks like they cost a fortune. He voices this out to Thomas who chuckles.

“That’s because it is.” He takes one out from the shelf, “See this? This pipe is made out of pure goblin silver and has over 30 black diamonds, there’s 16 rubies along the ridge as well if you look closely. This pipe alone costs  3,268 Galleons, 12 Sickles, and…” Thomas briefly looks at the price tag,”...4 Knuts.”

Severus gapes at the pipe in Thomas’ large hand. The pipe in discussion is crafted to look like a dragon, magic making its wings flap whenever Thomas caresses the underbelly of it. It truly is an intricate piece of work with little shapes and symbols formed from the precious metal. An intricate piece of work that costs more than his entire life savings, which isn’t even a lot in the first place.

“...And you’re going to buy that?” Severus asks breathlessly, still in disbelief at the price.

Thomas makes a non-affirming noise, “No. I don’t need to make that good of a first impression.” He jokes, placing the smoking pipe back onto the shelf. 

“Now,” the pureblood claps his hands, “Do you mind helping me choose, darling? It’ll be over quicker if we work together.”

Severus nods, “The faster the better.” 

Thomas grins wickedly, “Oh really? I was under the impression that you like it harder.”

The halfblood stares wide eyed at him, “Wha-you-'' He snaps his mouth shut, gathers his thoughts before spitting out, “Shut the hell up your mouth!” he flushes further at the atrocious grammar he spewed. Severus walks off to hide in another aisle as Thomas giggles away. 

And to think they were having an almost pleasant conversation, only for him to do this bullshit!

Severus glares at the pipes, one catching his eyes. He squats down to have a closer look, unwilling to touch anything remotely out of his savings were he to, Merlin forbid, break any of the hand crafted pieces. The pipe that piqued his interest is black with hints of brown and maroon at the stem, the whole thing made out of matt leather apart from the shiny bit where a person were to place their lips on. Perhaps the leather was a dragon, seeing as their one of the only creatures completely fire resistant. It’s a simple pipe, but it still looks incredibly well made.

“Ah that pipe is made from the hide of a Hungarian Horntail; ethically collected of course.” Thomas squats next to him, much to his chagrin, “ Hm, 30 Galleons, not bad.” 

Severus glares at him, unwilling to say anything, lest Thomas spews perverted bullshit at him again. 

“Is this what we’re buying then?” Thomas takes the pipe from the shelf, taking note of the serial number before placing it back.

Severus harrumphs, standing up and for about the 4th time, probably, walks away from Thomas.

“Now don’t be like that, darling. You know I’m only joking, right?” Thomas slides in front of him, hands in his pockets as he looks Severus in the eyes.

“Joke at my expense some more, why don’t you.” Severus growls out, his mind drifting back to his time at Hogwarts. To all the bullying masked as pranks. The cruel words in the guise of friendly banter. 

Call him sensitive all you want, but being teased constantly still hits him in a way he’s been hoping won't affect him anymore.

Thomas frowns, before sighing, “I didn’t mean to tease you too much, Severus. I shouldn't have gone too far.” 

“I apologize.”

Severus grumbles, embarrassed from the sudden apology, “...you’re forgiven, I shouldn’t have been so sensitive.” Strange how this is probably the 2nd time he’s heard his name from the pureblood’s lips.

Thomas immediately shakes his head, taking Severus’ hands into his. “No, never apologize for how you’re feeling. Not with me.”

Severus squints at their joint hands then up to Thomas’ sincere face.

Aaaalright? 

Severus suddenly feels like one of those heroines in those shitty muggle eroticas Alicia often reads. This moment just seems way too dramatic than necessary. He was mildly annoyed, not heavily betrayed; what is this? With that in mind, Severus carefully takes his hands away, still too wary of accidentally breaking these overpriced smoking pipes. Thomas notices and snorts.

“You’ve got nothing to worry about, darling. These are just illusion charms, the real merchandise, I assume, is in their backroom.” He then swipes at one of the pipes, much like a cat, and both of them watch the pipe fall to the floor only to poof away and appear back on the shelf, “See?”

Severus mumbles, “You could’ve told me that earlier.”

“My apologies.” Thomas laughs.

They head to the counter where Thomas proceeds to talk to the Tobacconist worker. Severus stays silent, letting the pureblood do his pureblooded things. Like complaining about the poor at the poor employee.

Okay, Thomas doesn’t actually do that. But it really is pureblooded behavior! Lucius doesn’t count, Severus has already fixed that mindset of his during Hogwarts; Lots of childish sobbing, he refuses to remember. 

Soon enough, Thomas finishes his purchase and they find themselves walking to the intersection of Horizont Alley and head into the more (but not quite) busy Carkitt Market. The outdoor shops litter with handfuls of people purchasing knick-knacks. 

Severus has personally never been at this part of Wizarding London. He reminisces the moments he and his late mother used to visit and it was usually only to Diagon Alley for his school requirements. If not Diagon Alley, just the lip of Knockturn Alley for second hand items.

Thomas slows to a stop in front of a food stall, beckoning Severus over. “Do you mind if you stay here for now. I’ve got a little appointment and it’s kind of classified.” He points to a store with the sign ‘Globus Mundi’. 

Severus tilts his head in curiosity, “You’re traveling out of the country?” 

“That’s classified.” Thomas winks.

Severus scoffs, “ And extremely obvious.” Then he nods, “Very well, I’ll wait right here.” 

Thomas thanks him, hands him a handful of Galleons and heads to the travel agency. Severus stares at the Galleons in his palm, and then takes a look at the menu from the refreshments stall. This is way too much money. 

Pah, showoff.

He orders a cucumber water and hands a single Galleon then pockets the change along with the rest of the Galleons to return to Thomas later. He takes a sip and immediately feels a wave of contentment and euphoria flood through him.

What the shit?

He looks at the stall closer, seeing a little pamphlet.

Ah.

Eternelle's Elixir of Refreshment. ‘Experience experiences with the cup in your hands!’ 

He decides to attempt guessing the potions mixed into the drink, while waiting for Thomas. 

Finally, after a little over 8 minutes, Thomas walks out of the travel agency and bounds towards the focused form of Severus Snape interrogating a teen.

“That took way too long, they kept trying to sell me other things. I’m sorry.” Thomas sighs, slightly irritated. 

“It’s alright. I’ve just spent my time trying to pinpoint which potions are being mixed into the drinks.” Severus glares at the cowering teen, “I’d confirm it now if you just tell me. ”

“Sir, I just work the machines. I don’t know what the drinks have!” The teen sobs.

Before Severus could really ask (threaten) the teen some more, Thomas interfered. “Alright, alright. Please don’t actually terrorize the poor lad.”

“I’m not! I’m merely curious and I want my answers!” Severus glares at the teen once more.

“Perhaps this drink is making you more intimidating.” Thomas sighs, “Let’s go, darling. We’ve got more things to do.”

Snape growls, "Stop calling me darling. I'm honestly so tired of actually having to tell you this."

Thomas hums, smirking, "Hm? What would you prefer then? Sweetheart? Love?"

He leans in close, arm bracing the wall of the stall, "Baby mine?"

Severus trying to fight off a blush, "None of the above. Now get out of my way, there are things we need to do and I'm not letting your absurdly tall ass drag this on." he then walks off.

Thomas sighs in tired fondness, “I literally just said that.”

As they walk off the cowering teen behind the stall counter cringes hard, “Ew, old people flirting.”

—

Soon enough, they complete all the errands that Thomas needed done; along with Severus near caffeinated state from the drinks from earlier. The afternoon blue sky slowly bleeds away to accommodate the picturesque sunset. The pureblood dropping Severus off to do a classified errand only one more time before that..

They find themselves in a park. Just walking.

This isn’t an errand.

Unless Thomas is already at that age where having a daily walk is considered an errand.

Thomas is quite old.

“What are we doing here? I’m pretty sure we’re done for the day.” Severus asks, ticking stuff off from his mental checklist.

Thomas smiles, “Yes, we are, darling Severus. Now we’re just relaxing.”

Severus grumbles, “Need I remind you that I’m only supposed to accompany you for the errands. Not frolic on the grass and pick flowers with you.”

“Indulge a man, will you?” Thomas laughs out, carrying on walking down the path. 

Severus rolls his eyes, as if I haven’t been doing that for the past 4 months already.

“Very well.” Severus says lightly, much like one would a child whining for attention.

The park scenery passed them by slowly. It really is a beautiful sight. The sunset influences the colors around the field. Greens and browns tinged with pinks and purples. Severus is taken back to a time the Evans forced him into tagging along to an art museum. What he is seeing in front of him is something he would have probably seen back then.

Not going to lie, Severus feels a bit breathless.

When is the last time Severus allowed himself to just enjoy moments like this? His mind goes back to moments with Lily at their park under their tree. 

Merlin, it's been so long.

Between his apprenticeship and working at a seedy pub (not to mention the looming war), he didn’t have time to live in the moment. You can’t really blame him. As much as he’d prefer to live fast and die young, he knows that with his magical heritage that he’d most likely live slow and die old. Which means he needs to be financially secure enough to be comfortable through it; something he never was, not under Tobias. 

Oh Merlin, he’s spiraling into an existential crisis.

“Beautiful, no?” He hears Thomas say beside him.

He nods softly, unwilling to look away from the scenery they’re walking in.

Distracted as he is, he misses the soft look Thomas is throwing his way.

They walk for a bit more, just until the sun finally hides behind the trees. They head back to the main streets of Diagon Alley. Despite the evening time, the shops and street lights keep the surroundings well lit up.

“I’d ask you to have dinner with me but…” Thomas trails off.

“I’ll just reject you.” Severus continues for him. That and Alicia would probably have his head if he didn’t eat the leftovers at home.

Thomas nods in understanding, “Alright. Thank you for coming along with me today. I know that you barely tolerate my presence.” he says jokingly.

Severus blushes faintly, “I don’t barely tolerate your presence. Not always anyway, you’ve got the affinity to annoy the living hell out of me.”

“It’s become one of my most favorite hobbies.” Thomas laughs out.

They stop by a quiet little nook between shops to apparate from. They say their goodbyes and proceed to-

“Severus, wait.”

The halfblood stills from where he is about to apparate and looks at him, “Hm? Did we forget something?” 

Thomas shakes his head, “No, no. But, I forgot to give this to you.” he takes out a little box from his pocket and plops it into Severus’ hand.

“What is this?”

“Just a little gift, unshrink it when you get home.” The pureblood says simply.

Severus nods, then remembers something from earlier, “Oh, right! Your change from the refreshment stall. There was a lot of money to spare. Why on Earth would you give me so much for drinks, I don’t understand.” he starts sifting through his pocket only for Thomas’ hand on his arm to stop him.

“No, no. Keep it, it’s yours now.” 

Severus squints his eyes at him, “I’m not a charity case you know.”

Thomas laughs, “No you’re not. I just want to give it to you, consider it as thanks. I don’t do charity.”

“That’s not something you should be saying proudly.” Severus says, amused.

The pureblood rolls his eyes, his cheeks flushing lightly, “I mean I don’t consider you a charity case. I assure you I donate plenty to charity.”

Severus snorts, “Uhuh, sure.” 

“Thank you then, for your thank you gifts.” He says, lifting the little package before slipping it into his pockets.

“And thank you for accepting my thank you gifts. And for joining me on this thank you errand run.” Thomas replies, with a cheeky little grin. 

With one last squeeze to Severus' arm he greets him farewell, “I’ll see you around, darling.” he disapparates away with an audible pop.

Severus rolls his eyes before leaving as well.

He steps into the empty flat, sighing in contentment when he plops onto the couch. Merlin, he’s so fucking tired.

A paper rodent runs up to him and unravels itself on his lap. It's a note from Alicia.

‘ I’m out on a date, don’t wait up for me, loser. 

There’s leftover curry in the fridge. 

-Alicia’

“Way to go, Alicia. Get your girl.” he mumbles before going to the kitchen for some dinner.

A little over an hour later he’s washed off the day’s sweat and is lying on his rickety bed.

“Oh yeah, I forgot.”

Severus sits up, summons his trousers and reaches into his pockets upon remembering the package Thomas gave him. He cancels the shrinking spell and takes a moment to stare at the plain box.

He looks around discreetly, feeling extremely stupid while doing so, and casted a faint Sectumsempra on the package. Just enough to open it, which he does immediately.

He stares in shock at the contents. 

It’s the books. The books he listed down on his shitty little notepad. Snapping out of his thoughts he takes it all out one by one all the while cataloging with his notes. Holy shit, there's not a book missing. Severus lets out a huff in disbelief, at the very bottom of the box lies the tome that Thomas lifted him for. He takes it out carefully, a slip of paper sliding out of its pages.

He rolls his eyes, already knowing that it’s probably from Thomas. He drops the books on his desk and snatches up the little note.

‘ Do forgive my being nosy, although you are probably used to it by now. I saw your little list and I thought I might as well buy it for you. Consider this my thanks for accompanying me, even beyond the errand. 

Thomas :)’

Chapter Text

This is weird…peculiar, even.

It feels unnatural…it shouldn’t be but seeing as it’s become a routine for the past four months, you’ll have to excuse the strangeness Severus feels over the situation.

What is the situation?

Well,

It is currently July 14th and Thomas hasn’t been visiting the pub for almost two weeks now. Not a single night.

The halfblood recalls their errand from July 4th when he had that classified appointment at Globus Mundi. Severus didn’t think that he actually planned to go out of the country. Which is simply stupid because the man physically went into the office, he couldn’t possibly pretended to be planning an overseas trip. Unless he just stood around the lobby for shits and giggles.

That can’t actually be what he did.

Despite the pureblood’s absence, his boss informed him that he will not be entertaining other guests. Thomas is apparently still paying for the nights he wasn't there. Which is very much insane and totally pureblood behavior. Only a pureblood would actually waste their money this way. Stupid twat.

With that, his boss opted to keep him on accounting duty in the back office. And isn’t that a breath of fresh air. Severus misses the days when his boss made him do what ever the fuck was needed to be done in the pub, being a ‘host’ was quite the headache. Don’t get him wrong, the pay is better now and so is the quality of everything in the pub ( It’s a cabaret club now, Snape ). But having to exhaust his introverted nature in the form of nightlife entertainment is a deal breaker. Not that he is breaking the deal. 

Still as Severus sits in the back office sifting through the logs, his mind wanders back to Thomas and his disappearance. 

Not really a disappearance if you know he was going to be leaving the country though, innit? 

Perhaps his meeting is overseas.

Just then Gardenia slides into the room, sighing, “Snape, whore-next-door’s done it again.”

“Hm? What did he do this time?” Severus inquires, welcoming the distraction.

“My local nymphomaniac kept me up all night,” she blinks blearily, “I’m pretty sure he was…playing...with squeaky toys, Snape.” 

Severus shivers in disgust, “The fact that you live just across from him.” he looks at her with sympathy, “I truly pity you, Dominique Vee Gardenia.”

She rolls her eyes, yawning, “Oh, quit it, Severus Snape. He isn’t all that bad.” she brightens up, remembering something, “He helped me with my shopping the other day!”

“Why didn’t you just levitate your bags?” Severus asks, eyebrow raised.

“Duh! To see if he’d actually have the decency to help me. Which he did!”

Severus rolls his eyes this time, “My, what a gentleman. Do make sure it isn’t some man's way to get into your pants.” he sneers, “Merlin knows there’s a large amount of men who think ‘human decency equals sex’.”

Gardenia giggles, “Worry not about my virtue, Snape. I’ll keep my bits 7 feet away from him always.”

“Eugh, don’t actually start talking about your bits to me.” Severus doesn’t bother dodging the slap Gardenia plants on his arm.

So yes, cataloging pub expenses and gossip is his current routine.

Unable to help himself, Severus goes to Lily. He does not really know why; it's not like there is anything urgent about it. They lounge around the living room as the halfblood rants, his point not coming across as anything but kind of irritated. Severus doesn’t know why; again.

Lily seems to know because she starts looking at him slyly. 

“It’s weird! But it’s not like I care! Although-” He narrows his eyes, upon noticing the look on her face, “What? What is it?” 

The redhead tilts her head to the side, pouting her lips teasingly, “Hm…I don’t know, Sev. It’s just that-” She smirks playfully, “I think you just miss him.” 

“I-you- Miss him?! ” Severus splutters, eyes widening and eyebrows scrunching in disbelief. 

The audacity of this woman to say the most bizarre things.

Lily rolls her eyes, “Well don’t get all flustered now. It’s quite obvious you do.” she gestures towards him, “It's in your body language even.”

“Body language? Are you a detective now or something?” Severus retorts, changing the subject immediately.

Lily hums, “James has been giving me pointers from his training actually. Here’s another pointer-” she points accusingly at him, “-you’re changing the subject! A pathetic attempt, coming from you.”

He glares, “It’s not pathetic.” 

“And there you are admitting that you did just change the subject!” She cackles, “Oh, this is so fun!”

Severus scoffs, crossing his arm petulantly. He is definitely regretting going to Lily for this, for about the hundredth time in his life. When will he ever learn?

“Anyway-” She sighs out, finally calming down from her laughing fit, “-phew, ugh. Laughing like that makes it feel like Harry could pop out at any moment.”

Severus fake-gags, sticking his tongue out, “Eugh, do not talk about giving birth to me.” 

Lily smacks his arm, “Don’t be fucking rude! Giving birth is a natural thing, magical even.” she side eyes him, “And don’t say that like you won’t be there during my labor.”

“That’s because I won’t be.” 

“Nuh-uh, you’re going to be there.” She counters immediately, “I’m talking front row tickets to Harry’s birth, next to James of course; if he doesn't faint through the entirety of it, though.” She mumbles out the last part, hand on her chin in thought.

Severus, on the other hand, is horrified at the prospect of not only having to look at a woman’s vagina, but having to look at a woman’s vagina while it pushes a whole human being out. There is a reason he is gay, people! And avoiding the sight of childbirth is one of them (right next to being born that way, naturally). 

“And what went through your head, thinking that it’s totally a good idea?” He says faintly, “For your best friend to be present?”

“Exactly that! You’re my best friend, Sevvy. I want you to be there in every big moment I have in my life!” She exclaims, already excited at the prospect.

This little red headed psychopath…

“No way. You are not using that sentimental ‘Severus Snape is a Good Person’ card on me again. Not after pulling that card with my ‘Godmother’ status.” He hurls back, he would be touched if he isn’t so perturbed at the moment.

Lily pouts, hoping to coax him into agreement. Which will absolutely not happen. He may have been the one who helped her during her first ever menstrual cycle when they were 11 but this here is where he draws the line! 

He says this but Lily just rolls her eyes, “See what I mean! You were the one who was there for me, quite literally helping me stick the pad on. So I don’t see why you can’t be there for me while I give birth!”

“That is the biggest fucking jump, Lily. There’s innocently helping someone through puberty at the wee age of 11 and then there’s having to witness what can basically look like a crime scene at the age of 20.”

She pouts harder, then with lightning speed her hand reaches out to his chest. He yelps when he feels her hands twist his nipple.

This bitch!

"Do not twist my nipples, Lily Potter!" His hand reaches out to her before abruptly stopping, his face scrunching up in mild disgust, "...I'd twist yours back but it might spew milk out."

She gasps in shock, "I'm not a fucking cow, Sev!" Lily rages, her hand reaching out again.

“Ow! That wasn’t an invite to twist my nipples harder!” Severus screeched.

So that visit to the Potter’s estate was fucking useless. Not a single conversation was resolved properly.

Severus Snape knows that he’s probably being too invested in Thomas and his activities, but can you blame him? Thinking about it now, Severus knows little to nothing about the rich man. Sure they lounge around the cabaret club almost every night, but Thomas always somehow manages to keep the conversation on either about the halfblood or on totally random things. Very sneaky, very Slytherin-y.

Very suspicious.

But alas, Severus can’t always think about Thomas. That’s unhealthy and very annoying. So on the morning of July 21st, he opens up the Daily Prophet to take his mind off of perverted nuisances. 

Which of course is a mistake.

Severus stares dumbly at the headline.

‘DEATH EATERS RAID THREE MUGGLE VILLAGES IN THE LAST TWO WEEKS!’

Right, the looming civil war…

“When I said I needed a distraction, this isn’t what I meant.” He mumbles to himself before deciding to read a bit more.

‘The terrorist group named the Death Eaters attempted to doubled down their ‘claim’ over the country and attacked and pillaged three muggle villages in Northern England. In the past two weeks 10 people were killed, 59 injured and 5 have gone missing; muggle and wizarding folks alike.’ blah blah blah.

Severus squints to read a section more closely, ‘Witnesses said that they were attacked with something they’ve never encountered before. A cloud of near deadly fumes engulfed said villages. Citizens are advised to steer clear from the villages as of the moment, only authorized people with safety uniforms are allowed to enter the danger zone.’ Ah...so magical creatures are involved maybe?

Severus skims a bit more before lightly snorting to himself, ‘The villages weren’t completely defenseless, one witness reports. Local anonymous vigilante groups have come to aid against the terrorists, minimizing the devastation of the area…’ blah blah blah.

Ah yes the Order of the Phoenix. Or whatever dorky name Dumbledore decided on.

He sighs, plopping the newspaper down on the dingy kitchen counter. Severus is glad that Lily has taken the time off from these stupid suicide missions. He knows for a fact that if it weren’t for her pregnancy she would have been at the front lines with Potter and the Marauders, fighting for her life. 

He feels cold just from the thought of losing his best friend in this war. 

And then there is Lucius: ‘Alleged Death Eater’. Purebloods being Death Eaters is an open secret that no one really bothers to tackle. Not when these same purebloods have a massive influence on Magical England. 

He knows Lucius cares deeply for him, Narcissa too. It’s just incredibly difficult sometimes to ignore the fact that they are a part of a group that wants death to all people like Severus and Lily… Despite this, the Malfoy’s try their best to be as neutral as possible, or at least as uninvolved to the violence. Lucius promised him that much.

He wonders, though, how the Death Eaters are able to point out who is with them or not. He tried asking the blond once, but he was blatantly told that ‘I might as well just commit suicide with a dull rusty spoon if I would just tell you like that, Severus.’ So he lets that curiosity slide to the back of his mind for another time.

Severus remains to be neutral, or as neutral as his morals can allow him to be. After all, false neutrality only supports the oppressors more…probably.

He picked that up from a muggle media studies textbook once.

Just then an almost reluctant sounding knock echoes from the front door. Severus looks over at Alicia taking a nap on the sofa, her muggle erotica novel covering her face as she snores away. He rolls his eyes before walking up to the door and unlocks the door.

A sneer makes its way onto his face.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” He barks angrily.

Chapter Text

Remus stands there at his front door with a sheepish smile on his face, his beige ( beige, what is actually wrong with this man?) rumpy sweater blending into the musty hallway of their flat. How’d he get here? The only person who knows his address is Lily.

“I got your address from James.” the werewolf rasps out, leaning tiredly on the doorframe, “We need your help.”

And by extension, Potter.

Severus side-eyes the Daily Prophet on the kitchen counter, “ We, huh?” he retorts, thinking of throttling Potter for giving his home address around. Damn emergency contacts.

Amusement flickered through Remus’ tired eyes, “Yes, Severus. The Order.” He whispers, glancing over Severus’ shoulder to look at the snoring Asian on the sofa. Severus rolls his eyes, knowing that she is completely dead to the world whenever napping, and ushers Lupin to sit by the kitchen counter. 

“I know it's your decision not to join the Order but you’re one of the most talented potioneer we know.” Lupin grunts, slumping onto the stool.

He sighs for a moment, trying to catch his breath, “A lot of us have been on the receiving end of curses and hexes–not to mention the unknown fumes–it would really help us plenty if you can brew a few healing potions for us.” Lupin adds quickly, “Dumbledore swore to compensate you! We just really need help…with the Death Eater raids and all…well, we can’t afford to be downed like this.”  

Severus watches Lupin hunching over the counter propped on the stool that Severus previously sat on. Looking closely there is a tinge of violet and green veins scattered on the werewolf’s skin. Looking even closer, Severus can see portions of it glowing faintly heavily suggesting that whatever is in Lupin’s system is still very much active. Eyebrows scrunching in growing concern, the halfblood leans to the werewolf who decides to stay still knowing that he is about to be examined. 

“How did you get this…?” Severus asks, angling his head to the side to have a better view of the veins. He softly pokes at the veins, twitching back when the werewolf flinches.

“The fumes.” Lupin rasps, his voice unable to go above a rough whisper, “All 3 villages were ambushed with it. Whatever it was, it's really messing with whoever inhales it.”

“Has anyone been healed from this?” 

“Not yet, not fast enough. Whatever it was, it was meant to come and go through our system agonizingly slowly.” Lupin says, “That is, if we are healed. Those who were too late to heal…well, I haven’t had a chance to see.”

Severus takes mental notes of what the werewolf is saying, mind already going through possible healing potions that would move faster than whatever poison is in their system.

“Sounds to me whatever is in those fumes are meant to immobilize you at best and paralyze your lungs at worst.” The halfblood theorizes as he stands back straight, satisfied with his rough examination, “That is the more external and obvious effect, at least. The ‘fumes’, they haven’t discovered what it was yet? ”

“We tried to nab one of the containers but the Death Eaters were quite adamant on getting it back. Seemed they didn’t want us to find out what it was.” Lupin says.

“I see, I see…but with what I’m seeing…how are you still functioning? How are your other…members?” Severus asks.

“It’s why I’m here, Severus-” Remus chokes down a cough, “-my ’condition’ is the only thing that’s keeping me from going completely bedridden. I can’t say the same for the others.”

Severus purses his lips in concern. Fuck, this month is going from strange to horrible. First, Thomas decided to fuck off without a warning for almost 2 week and now he’s faced with the aftereffects of a battle that he only just read about less that 20 minutes ago. He openly stares at Lupin who, as subtle as he could, winced every time he swallowed.

The werewolf’s amber eyes are fixed on the Daily Prophet lying on his kitchen counter. There is almost an air of defeat permeating from him. 

Sigh.

Fucking soft spots.

“I’ll help.”

Severus tries to ignore the warmth spreading from his chest at the hope shining from Lupin’s eyes.

“Oh, Severus. You have no idea how grateful I am right now.” Lupin rasps out happily, “I’d give you a hug but I can’t seem to get myself to move.” His face drops in horror.

“Uh…I actually can’t move.”

Severus turns to one of the rickety cupboards, ignoring the spiraling man behind him, and pulls out a vial with an almost luminous pink liquid. He moves to the drawers and takes out a small glass dropper. A small pop comes from the vial opening as he heads back to the counter that Lupin is now involuntarily propped on. 

“Hold still, this might just help.” Severus mumbles then chants out a sterilizing charm to his hands and the dropper, concentrating on giving him 5 drops of the pink potion deep into his mouth. Lupin gags at the intrusion; at least he isn’t completely unmoving, not yet at least.

“Merlin, Sev’rus, warn a guy.” Lupin coughs weakly. 

“Sorry, sorry.” he apologizes, propping the potion and the dropper to the side and leans to have a closer look at the veins glowing around the werewolf’s neck. It’s barely a difference, but the green veins are receding, and the glow is dimming as the potion works its way into his system.

“That should do it for now.” Severus leans back, “Try to sit up.”

Lupin sits up straighter, sighing in great relief. He rubs at the back of his neck lightly, looking at Severus with a grateful expression once more, “What potion was that?” he inquires.

Severus gestures to the vial next to him, “It’s a simple anti-paralysis potion. I tweaked it to be at least 10% faster than the traditionally brewed one.”

“Thank you, Severus.” With a burst of overwhelming emotions, Lupin tries to go for a hug, “Come here, I’ll give you that hug now.” Lupin made to stand, only to yelp as he topples onto the floor instead.

“I did say to try and sit up. I didn’t give the greenlight to stand.” Severus says, leaning over the counter to peer down at the groaning werewolf, “The potion isn’t that fast acting, you know.”

“Bollocks.” Lupin curses softly, slowly propping himself up on his elbows.

—

Severus finds himself in a quaint little house in a quaint little neighborhood. The sofa he is sitting on is a soft flannel patterned one, their throw pillows a mismatch of different pillowcases. On the mantle cute figurines of kittens are strewn about, all ranging in different colors, poses and outfits. A particularly punk cat catches his eyes immediately. The windows are blanketed by curtains that are of a lacy white fabric, letting in the soft sunlight of the late morning.

All in all, Severus feels very out of place.

And also strangely…disappointed?

To be fair, for an allegedly ‘heroic’ and ‘ragtag’ group of vigilantes…their headquarters is very…

Wholesome. Homely, even. 

You’d expect Dumbledore to choose something more dramatic, like a cave or a dirty abandoned warehouse.

From beside him Lupin sits with a relaxed look on his face. Probably trusting this place to be a safe haven for him.

“Where…where are we?” Severus asks quietly, suddenly noticing the children’s toys scattered around the floor. A sneaky little cat plushie is peering at him from behind the coffee table. Severus blinks when it squeaks at him.

Lupin smiles at him, “Ah, we’re at the Tonks'. They’ve happily allowed their home to serve as H.Q.” he gestures to the living room they are in, “Comfy, no?”

Severus nods, opting to just passively agree (and pretending to know what the hell a Tonk is).

Then a man stumbles into the room followed by a much more calm, slightly familiar woman. Lupin and Severus stand up to greet them.

“Remus! Thank Merlin, you're back.” The man exclaims, before looking over at the halfblood, “And you must be Severus Snape. I’m Tonks, Ted Tonks.” he extends his hand out to which Severus clasp, accepting the handshake.

Ted Tonks draws back, clapping his hands together. “Right-and this is my wife-”

“-Andromeda Tonks née Black , pleasure to meet you once more, Snape.'' the woman steps up from behind her husband, extending her hand out as well.

Severus takes her hand, shaking it passively as mild shock crosses his face. So this is where she's been. He remembers her vaguely in his early years at Hogwarts, always walking alongside her sisters. It was when he was a third year student did he hear his upperclassmen openly ostracize the woman, rumored to have eloped with a muggleborn. A Hufflepuff no less. He didn’t care at the time, being a thirteen year old, but he figured that purebloods are weird anyway.

Here she is, though, with her muggleborn husband looking as elegant and as unbothered as she had back in school.

“Mrs. Tonk, you were Slytherin prefect back in ‘71. I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you immediately, it’s been a long time.” he says, letting go of her hand.

“Please, just call me Andromeda,” She smiles kindly, “And it has, hasn’t it. Well, I did hope we meet again in better circumstances but it's a pleasure all the same.”

He nods in agreement.

Ted Tonk leads them further into the house, towards a heavily warded area. Severus grows slightly nauseous the more he goes into the hallways.

“How’s everyone?” Remus asks, unbothered by the heavy feeling that Severus is experiencing. 

“Not doing too well. There’s only so much potions we can offer, especially for something we don’t know how to heal.” says the muggleborn in dejection. Andromeda places a comforting hand on her husband’s arm before turning to them. 

“Severus, if you would please lend me your hand.” she reaches out.

He hesitantly agrees, still slightly weary of people he doesn’t know. He watches as she points her wand to his wrist and with a soft melodic chant a pastel purple glow seeps from his skin and onto the tip of her wand. With nervous curiosity, he looks to where she writes symbols vertically on the wall, using whatever the hell she took from him.

As she finalizes the writing, the dizzying atmosphere of the ward lifts and he feels deep within him the sense of overwhelming trust and familiarity. Severus places a hand on his chest, as if to physically thumb at the weight of what the magic did to him.

“That’s a rune I’ve worked on for 4 years. Your magic is tied to our home, much like a sanctuary you will be protected and safe here. All is asked for you to return this with kindness.” Andromeda says, looking him in the eye with a look that tells him that he is welcome here.

Also a look that says that she will murder him if he tries anything funny (which is not funny).

He bows slightly, letting the house and the married couple know that he is humbly accepting the protection it offers. This seems to satisfy Andromeda and Ted as they carry on leading them to a second much bigger living room where most of the Order members are.

Oh, boy. Here we go.

Almost immediately a rough voice attempts to yell.

“Oi! What in the bloody hell is he doing here?” Sirius exclaims, horizontally delirious and unmoving on the comfortable looking sofa bed pushed against the window. He groans immediately, regretting his outburst. 

Ha, serves the idiot right.

In the magically massive room are the core members of the Order…at least Severus thinks so. Next to Sirius is a roughed up Potter whose wild hair is impossibly even wilder. On the far right side of the room are Marlene Mckinnon and Dorcas Meadowes shivering under 3 layers of blankets in front of the roaring fireplace while also fanning themselves, their faces sweaty and pale and lips concerningly blue. A heavily pregnant Alice Longbottom is sitting on a chair behind them, seemingly massaging an oil into their shoulders. A few other members are loitering around the room and are obviously wounded from the battle, not as much as the aforementioned unmoving Marauders and shivering women.

At the center of the room, two figures stand awkwardly positioned away from one another, despite clearly having been in conversation prior to his entrance. Albus something-something Dumbledore next to who Severus recognizes as Auror Moody, the iconic bionic eye and name he sees a lot in the papers. Both are looking straight at him.

One with a corny hopeful twinkle.

And the other with a…murderous looking distrustful glare.

Once again, let Severus reiterate: Oh, boy. Here we go.

“Remus, my boy! Thank you for bringing dear Severus in. I knew you’d succeed.” the jovial headmaster praises, walking over to the group, Auror Moody following strictly 5 steps behind for some reason, “Go on to your friends and rest, you deserve it.”

With a bright relaxed smile and a nod to both Dumbledore and Severus, he limps to his fellow Marauders. A grumpy Black visibly harrumps and a suddenly energetic, albeit unmoving, Potter greets him.

Severus looks away from the group and turns to Dumbledore.

“My boy, it is great to see you. How have you been since graduation?” Dumbledore greets him, his atrocious robes swaying dramatically, nodding towards the Tonks couple when they excuse themselves. Severus commends him for being consistently dressed like an utter twat. The halfblood is unsure of most things, but glitter and neon colors on everything is not a good look; that he is sure of. For Merlin’s sake he looks like he is trying to fit in with the ‘youngsters’.

Of course, Severus does not say this.

“I’ve been doing well, Headmaster.” he says instead, eyeing the murderous looking auror wearily. The headmaster takes notice immediately.

“Oh, Moody, would it kill you to be at least a little bit more welcoming? You’re scaring the poor lad!” Dumbledore chastises the auror, who glares at him for a second before going back to glaring at Severus.

“Best tell me who this lad is first, Albus. We don’t know who he is affiliated with.” Auror Moody grunts. Severus finally takes notice of the clenched wand by the Auror’s side, no doubt ready to hex him beyond oblivion at any wrong move. 

Dear Jesus, he might just die. Extrajudicial killings are just as overlooked in Wizarding communities as it is in Muggle society is it not?

The Headmaster merely rolls his eyes playfully, looking at Severus as though it is merely a joke. The young Slytherin did not feel that this is a time to misinterpret murder-y intent with humor.

Then again, he did the same thing back in Hogwarts.

“This is Severus Snape. He is quite the potions prodigy back in Hogwarts, top honors 7 years straight!” Dumbledore proudly boasts, from behind him Black groans at the praise; wholly ignored by everyone.

 “Doesn’t tell me if he’s trustworthy or not.” Auror Moody retorts.

Severus is growing tired of being threatened like this. With a burst of bravery enough to make Lily sob happily, he rolls his eyes to disregard the jaded auror and turns to Dumbledore.

“Sir, much as I’d like to catch up with you I must say that the situation we are in is extremely time sensitive.” Severus explains, “I’ve only managed to discover one of the alleged poisons used; who knows how many more are spreading through their system.” 

Looking closely now, both the old men in front of him have different afflictions on them. Unlike the neon green/violet combo adorning Lupin’s veins, theirs glowed a strange orange color. They don’t seem to be experiencing any pain at the moment, though.

This made Dumbledore look very grave suddenly, “You’re right my boy. Come this way, the Tonks kindly lend us their guest bathroom as a temporary lab for you to brew in.” 

The glare on Auror Moody’s face intensifies, causing the Headmaster to scoff, “Very well, Moody. If you’re going to be this way you are more than welcome to watch him.”

The Auror merely grunts.

“In a moment, Headmaster. I need to examine the afflicted first. Starting with both of you, perhaps.” Severus makes a step towards them, to which they take a step back.

“Worry not about us, young Severus. We’re both afflicted with something lesser.” Dumbledore explains, eyes twinkling with barely contained humor.

Auror Moody growls in annoyance, “Morgana knows what they’re trying to do, bringing schoolyard pranks into the battlefield! Modified no less!”

Severus cants his head to the side, intrigued, he was never one to participate in those pranks, “May I ask, what did they do?”

“This!” Dumbledore grabs Auror Moody’s arm who protests loudly with excessive swearing. Severus blinks in shock when a cloud of smoke bursts from both their heads. When the fog clears, so does Severus’ mental stability. Two pairs of hollow eyes stare at him; one pair oval shaped while the other a semicircle (ignoring the unnerving bulging eye)  in an angry tilt on the orange…face. 

Holy fucking shit.

“Pumpkins…” Severus breathes out. The old men’s heads were replaced with pumpkins; jack-o-lanterns to be exact. The bright orange of the fruit being contrasted by the green viney leaves swaying at the top, peeking underneath the Headmaster's wizardly hat. It almost looks comical, with the carved faces of the pumpkin moving, with blinking big beady eyes and a fully functional unevenly shaped mouth.

“That’s right, dear boy! It’s only activated when we make contact with other wizards.” Dumbledore says with his pumpkin head bobbing enthusiastically, Severus watches his cartoony mouth move dumbly. Seems like the pumpkin takes away the long beard.

“We’ve yet to discover if this goes away on its own. We’ve been going pumpkin 15 times in the past few days already.” Auror Moody informs seriously, as if there is something totally serious from the phrase ‘going pumpkin’ and his mouth with ‘spikey teeth’. From behind him, the Marauders stifle their laughter.

Severus gathers every adult brain cell in him before nodding, “I see. There’s most likely an element that makes it unable to exhaust itself from your system. Its modification as you mentioned earlier.”

The young Slytherin and the two old men walk towards the closest group, it being the Marauders. 

“Hello, Severus. Boy am I glad to see you!” Potter greets him happily, his voice slurred, “You’ll get me in tiptop shape in no time, won’t you?”

Severus glares at him, “I’m going to heal you last on purpose.”

“Wha-Why?! What did I do?” Potter stammers, looking at him in puppy-eyed confusion.

“For sharing my home address! You and Lily both know I like my flat away from anyone’s knowledge.” Severus harrumps, sneering at him.

“It’s an emergency, though! I would have gone myself but as you can see I can’t exactly go anywhere !” Potter whines out.

Severus cuts off the conversation by kneeling down and immediately examining the boys. He nods to himself when he notices that all three of the boys have identical afflictions.

“Are any of you able to move?” He asks, taking out the anti-paralysis potion. A chorus of no’s come from them, Black’s a little delayed by his unwilling behavior.

He gives each of them the same dosage he gave the werewolf this morning. It barely works this time around for Lupin, and it only allowed a twitch from Black and Potter’s fingers. 

Fuck, he didn’t expect the paralysis poison to be this potent. He says so.

“Will you be able to combat it then?” Dumbledore asks, the oval shape of his eyes turning a semicircle tilting away from each other. This tells Severus that the Headmaster is frowning in worry. 

“I’ll have to consult my notes, I’ll look to make the potion more fast-acting than this.” He assures his pumpkin-headed headmaster.

He takes out his notebook from his messenger bag and looks at the trio intently, “For now, I need you to tell me what you are feeling. Don’t leave anything out.”

—

Severus stumbles into his flat, bleary eyes blinking uncoordinated from exhaustion. He uses the remaining of his energy in taking off and properly putting away his shoes before plopping face first onto the sofa with a barely audible ‘oomf’. He stretches, whimpering when he feels every joint in his body crackle like a glow stick. Morgana help him, he feels like he’s aged a decade.

He doesn’t bother looking up when he hears shuffling around him, “Fuckin’ Christ, Severus. Where’d you go that got you looking like the living dead?” Alicia asks from where she is sweeping the ceiling; ah, her day off cleaning. 

“Super secret potion brewing for a super secret vigilante group.” Severus says, revealing the super secret potion brewing he had been doing for a super secret vigilante group.

Alicia hums and drops the broom into the trash bin, unwilling to get the cobwebs she just brushed off from the ceiling all over the floor, “That’s fucking something. Don’t you have class later? Like in an hour from now?”

He sobs into the couch, “Don’t remind me! I don’t want to be reminded of how undeserving I am of the opportunity!”

“Okay,” She sighs once more, sitting on the floor by his head, “Does that have something to do with the super secret brewing for the super secret whatever?”

“I can’t seem to figure out what’s wrong!” he backtracks, “No-I do know what’s wrong, I just don’t know how to combat it! Whatever these poisons are, they’ve purposefully twisted it around to be incredibly slow in healing at best and incurable at worst with the usual brew.”

He whimpers, turning his head to look at her with teary defeated eyes, “Not to mention we’re on quite a dangerously small time frame.”

Alicia hums, looking at his defeated pout. Perhaps it's the exhaustion that’s making him way more expressive than usual but seeing him like this is…a really sad sight. With that in mind she brings her hand to his cheek. Severus stares up at her confused.

“Wha-Ow!” Severus yelps when Alicia squeezes his cheek hard.

He whines his hands going to her wrists, “What are you doing? Why are you adding to my torment?”

Alicia pulls at his cheek all the while tutting, “Severus, come on, man. This ain’t you. Where’s that obnoxious little genius who rants to me about how dumb 500 year old potion textbooks are, huh? Oh how the mighty hath fallen.” she says before finally letting go of his cheek, which he rubs vigorously.

“This isn’t just about outdated brewing methods, you bitch! This is a critical situation that requires me to get shit done pronto.” he exclaims before mellowing down pathetically, “I can’t seem to connect the dots with these unknown poisons.”

“Welp, get up, down one of your improved Pepper-up potions and get ready. You have to go to that potioneering school in an hour.” Alicia says simply, standing up and dusting off her trousers.

Severus sits up, looking up at her in disbelief “What? That’s all you gotta say? Is that really what I should prioritize right now?” 

Alicia gazes down at him with sighing, “Look, I’m just someone trying to get by in Knockturn Alley, do I look like I’m qualified to even talk about potions and poisons? Go to your class, Severus. You might just learn a thing or two.” With that she pats his cheek then carries the trash bin where the broom previously was and shakes out the content outside their window. Severus blinks as he watches Alicia argue with someone outside, possibly a victim of the dusting. 

Perhaps she’s on to something.

Oh who is he kidding, that was probably the best bloody idea he’s heard in a week! His upperclassmen under Master Belby! Severus is willing to bet that they’d at least point him in the right direction. 

He just hopes it's a direction that’ll lead him to the fastest solutions.

Finally filled with tentative determination, Severus leaves Alicia to her heated argument, after he’s sure that she’ll only stick half her body out of the window, he goes to get ready for class.

—

“Bollocks!” Severus curses as he trips over himself from the rushed apparition, thanking all the Heavens that the garden is void of people. He starts power walking along the yard and into Master Belby’s potioneering school.

He told Thomas this the day of their errand but let him say it again. It isn’t really a school. It’s like an educational lakeside house located in the quite luxurious town of Herming. Despite the fancy architecture, it’s still pretty humble in terms of potioneering schools. Then again Master Belby is notoriously known for keeping to himself. Only taking on a handful of apprentices decades at a time. With that said, Severus still feels an overwhelming sense of gratitude at being able to apprentice under him.

If only he isn’t so antsy right now. Time sensitive healing and all that.

Severus stumbles to the entrance of the laboratory, straightening up and fixing his appearance. With a nod to himself, he enters.

And ducks.

“Woah!” He peers above his head, a crystal thermometer buried into the wall. A man’s voice grabs his attention.

“Oops. Sorry there, Snape.” Rupert Knots walks up to him, and attempts to pry the thermometer from the wooden panel. Ada Pearl tuts, ginger curls bouncing as she hurries over to them.

“Now, look at what you’ve done! Ru, Belby’s going to have our hind.” she exclaims, helping the blond man.

From the far end of the room, a woman’s voice speaks up, “Uhm, he’s going to have your hind. I’m crime free, you two.” 

The man rolls his eyes, glancing at Valeria Guzman, “Just for that I will throw you under the bus for no reason.”

Her response is a middle finger in the air.

Severus, still crouched, laughs nervously, “What caused such a strong projectile?”

“Oh we’re trying to mess with muggle–er–elements was it? Yeah, we’re trying to mess with the freezing thing.” Rupert explains, jutting his head towards the metal canister on the wooden table. 

Ada rolls her eyes, “It's called Nitrogen, Ru. You can name every single part of our brain but you can’t remember one element?”

Rupert waves his hand around in dismissal, forgetting the task at hand, “It’s whatever, Ada. We have the element chart, why bother memorizing?” 

“Ugh, you are useless.” she says, finally pushing him out of the way and double-handedly pulls the crystal thermometer from the wall.

Severus moves out of the way finally, leaning against the nearest table, “Where’s Master Belby?”

Valeria pipes up, combing through her magenta hair, "It's a free day, remember? We're allowed to experiment on personal side projects and whatnot today."

"That's Valeria talk for 'sitting around doing nothing', for your information." Rupert informs, yelping when he feels a tickle charm thrown his way. He sends one back, based on the choked laughter coming from the lazy woman.

"Stop throwing spells around, dumbasses." Ada groans, "Are we really trying to break as many rules as we can in a day?"

Rupert laughs, “Naw, you’ve got nothing to worry about, mate! It’s just us today, he won’t know a thing.”

As the chaos finally dies down, Severus decides to take his notes out of his bag. He subtly glances towards his fellow apprentices, mildly weary. Would it really be okay to reveal such a dire situation to them? Perhaps he can keep out details but it also doesn’t take a genius to connect two and two together; the twos being the attack on the villages and the coincidence of Severus having physical evidence of how the attacks were carried out.

“Whatchu got there, Snape?” a voice asks from behind him.

Severus allows a small flinch to travel through his arms at the sudden attention. He turns to look at the blond man trying to look at his journal. He allows this as well.

“Well, there’s this situation that I’m trying to solve. Involves modified little poisons and such.” Severus replies, “I’m actually hoping to ask advice from 3 of you. If you don’t mind.” 

Rupert brightens up, “Of course we wouldn’t mind!” He goes next to Severus and takes a closer look at his notes, “We’re your upperclassmen, technically, so we’re always down to give out elderly advice.”

Ada lets out an affronted harrumph from where she is clearing out the Nitrogen canister, “Elderly?! We’re only in our 20s, Ru.”

“Late 20s, we’re practically half way there.” Valeria pipes in, strutting towards the table both men are on.

Ada rolls her eyes, “You forget we’re wizards, you dolt. I’m pretty sure we live up to a hundred years old if we really push it.”

“Who would want to live to that age these days? Definitely not me.” Valeria balks at the idea of old age. Given her research on muggle disorders on elderly minds, Severus could understand where she’s coming from.

“What do you need help with, Snape?” Rupert asks from beside him.

Severus flips through the journal and lands on a page filled with sticky notes and taps his fingers on it, “We’ll start out with something small. Two people have been afflicted with it.”

Rupert reads the notes, humming in thought, “This isn’t modified.”

Severus straightens up, “What?”

“You’re not familiar with its magical mechanics? It’s the Pompion potion is it not?” Rupert asks, tapping on the name at the top of the page, “This just needs a good ‘ol shower, this one. As much as it's orally consumed the substance goes through the body’s system and seeps out of the skin’s pores where touch from magical folk activates it. It's how it works, in all its technicality.” Rupert Knots says, before turning to look at a gaping Severus.

“...How long did you say they’ve been afflicted with the Pompion potion?” The older man asks.

Severus blinks in disbelief barely hiding his shudder of disgust, “...they didn’t really say.” days, it's been days. 

Morgana’s saggy tits, how is the Headmaster both Chief Warlock and leader of a vigilante group? And Auror Moody! Renowned my ass! The potion wasn’t modified, all they needed was to take a damn shower!

Rupert purses his lips, nodding in understanding, “Right.”

Changing the subject from stinky old men, Severus brings their focus on the more detrimental cases, “See here, these had me stuck. I took blood samples and attempted to isolate the poison from it.” He holds up two vials, both with barely a few drops of a bright green liquid and bright purple liquid in each. He provides a brief description of both; extreme paralysis and an inactive swelling potion.

“That’s all I managed to collect.”

Rupert looks back down at his notes, “Paralysis and swelling? That’s a strange combination. If you’re to poison someone, why not go for something more straightforward?”

“That’s what I thought at first, but then I realized that perhaps there’s a sadistic reasoning. Look here,” He points at a section of his journal, “This variant of paralysis potion is meant to work quite slowly, aiming to asphyxiate the victim by paralyzing the lungs when the poison finally settles in. I’m thinking, when the victim dies, this activates the swelling. This seems to be a really potent swelling potion, deadly so. This is the opposite of the paralysis, it's meant to rapidly swell up the deceased until there isn’t room for the body to swell further. The result is, well…”

Rupert connects the dots quickly, “A dead body explosion. That’s nasty.”

“Like those beached whales.” The ginger woman sidles up to Severus, “Can I have a look?”

He hands her the vial, “There isn’t any logical sense as to why they’d want the victim to burst upon death. I’d say they just want to feed their morbid curiosity.”

“Right on.” Rupert grimaces.

Severus watches Ada pop open the cork top and take a whiff of the contents. She tilts her head to the side, face scrunching up in concentration. 

“Hm…Ru, smell this, doesn’t it seem familiar to you?” She brings the vial up to the man who then sniffs at it.

Rupert hums in agreement, “You’re right, Ada. Kind of reminds me of…hm.” he takes a moment to ponder into his memories, snapping his fingers as he does “Ah! Yeah, that trip Belby took us on! I can’t quite remember, but it was a year ago maybe?”

While the two discuss the familiarity of the poisons’ scents, Severus takes notice of Valeria idly glancing at his notes.

“Icy-Hot potion, huh?” she asks as she skims through the description. 

Severus shrugs, “It’s the best way to call it. The afflicted are experiencing extreme cold and extreme heat at the same time. I’d use a Pepper-up but I don’t know how it would react to the overheating aspect of the poison.”

He takes out one vial that has a blue and red liquid spiraling around, “See here, it isn’t even mixing together. It’s just swirling around one another.”

“Because of the contrast of their extreme temperatures.” Valeria concludes, mildly impressed at the piece of magic in his hand.

Severus slides the notebook closer to him pointing at a section, “That isn’t to say that this potion is newly invented. It’s just rarely used. They were mostly used in cooking in those upscale restaurants. That and it typically lasts around 5 hours at most. So it's both intriguing and concerning that whoever brewed this has both the money and creativity to modify it like this as a means to weaponize it.”

“I’ve had those fancy desserts once. Not a fan.” Valeria says, reading through Severus’ spidery writing, before sighing, “Welp, might as well have a sniff. Our colleagues seem to be on to something.” Severus and Valeria watch Rupert and Ada in an intense conversation. Severus jerks back, amused, when Rupert drags his notes towards him.

Rupert stops for a second, “Do you mind if we annotate your notes?”

Severus juts his head forward, “Be my guest.”

That set the duo onto his notes, going back and forth between picking up the green and purple samples and writing down their findings. All the while barely taking a breath from their conversation.

Severus leaves them to their own devices, knowing that they’ll walk him through their thought process. He uncorks the Icy-Hot potion and hands it over to Valeria who takes a, regrettably big, whiff.

“Fuck me, that’s strong as shit.” She flinches back, face contorted as though experiencing a sudden migraine. 

Severus chuckles a bit, taking a more subdued sniff at the potion, “Yeah, it might be spearmint. Seeing as it was still derived from being a cooking tool.”

She shakes her head, trying to rid herself of the sudden ache in her nose, “Ah…fuck. Phew, anyway. I smell Yeti urine.” she says simply.

He purses his lips, shocked by sudden discovery, “Well, that’s a start.”

All four of the Master Belby apprentices spend the morning pouring over their respective potions in teams: Rupert and Ada on the paralysis and swelling combination while Severus and Valeria pick at the Icy-Hot potion. By the afternoon they gear up and make attempts to recreate the potions. The first four trials prove to be unsuccessful. Several explosions almost caused untimely beheadings. Almost. Like a fingernail away. 

Worry not, safety is the number one priority.

While they recreated the potions, they took to making a tentative recipe for antidotes. Not from scratch, mind you, no one has time for that shit. They borrowed from existing healing potions and did their own modification for them. 

As the evening rolls around, with progress Severus is extremely amazed at, they finally decide to call it a day. 

“Bloody hell, I’m knackered.” Rupert yawns as he stretches. 

Ada sluggishly takes off her safety gear, groaning in pain, “Mate, you can say that again.”

Severus skims through his notes, satisfied at the amount of information he gained in one sitting. “Thank you so much for all your help, guys. I think I can take over the rest.”

Valeria takes her hair out of her ponytail, magenta flowing on her shoulders, “Don’t mention it. Actually, don’t mention it at all. What we did today was genuinely suspicious, borderline criminal, even.”

“...I was actually going to ask you guys to keep this a secret.” Severus says sheepishly.

Rupert struts up to him, “We’ve seen the papers, we know what this is for. It’s why we’re so willing to help, Snape. Your secret’s safe with us.”

Ada nods, winking mischievously “Yeah, you won’t hear a word of this out of us.”

Severus thanks them thoroughly before running off to head to work, something he almost forgot from all the chaos that he went through the past 2 days.

As he sits in the back office of the cabaret club to catalog their expenses once more, he also studies his notes. Wildly annotated with 4 different colors of ink. Severus feels that he’s got the potions situation under control, hypothesizing that he’ll have a solid antidote by tomorrow evening.

He just hopes that’s fast enough.

—

Severus sits tiredly on the comfortable sofa. He spares a quick glance at the calendar on the side table. Oh would you look at that, it’s the 26th of July already, a look at the kitty-cat wall clock tells him it JUST turned the 26th of July. That’s four days cycling through his mastery, vigilante healing and going to his job. 

That’s four fucking days of never-ending misery.

He hasn’t gone back home since yesterday, opting to go here directly (after bringing some personal essentials; like a sleepover, but way fucking worse). He managed to successfully brew the corresponding antidotes for the Order. Now, he serves as the group’s temporary healer. Making healing salves and energy potions to keep the group from collapsing from the aggressive attacks from the Death Eaters. Some of the brews are donated to St. Mungos, under Dumbledore. Wouldn’t do well for Severus to reveal his position in the war, talk about big red bullseye.

Now, he just wants to sleep. The Tonks graciously gave him the guest bedroom upstairs, and he really wants to go up and into the comfortable bed. But for the life of him, his limbs are unwilling to cooperate.

“That’s called exhaustion, I think.” a voice says from behind him.

Severus rolls his eyes as Lupin comes into view, “The fuck do you want? If you need to heal up, the potions are there.” he waves towards the direction of the guest bathroom turned laboratory.

Lupin chuckles, smiling pleasantly, “No, no, I’m perfectly fine. All thanks to you, Severus. Without you, I don’t know if we’d be here still kicking.”

“How nice to hear, now go away.” Is Severus’ snarky reply, voice void of anything ‘nice’ in hopes that Lupin will fuck off.

This time it’s Lupin who rolls his eyes, “Don’t be like that! Here, as thanks, I'll help you to your room.” he turns around and squats in front of Severus, “Come on now, hop on my back.”

Severus stares at his back in disbelief, “Are you fucking serious?” 

“No, I’m not. Sirius is too wild for my taste.” Lupin looks back to send him a cheeky smile, “But yes, I am being genuine. I’ll carry you up.”

“Wha-” Severus makes to argue, realizing at the last minute that he would rather not actually, “I’m a 175 centimeter tall grown man though, I doubt this will be an easy task.”

As Severus mounts Lupin’s back,  the Gryffindor alumni responds, “No, this’ll be a breeze. I’ve got enhanced strength, from being a–you know–a–yeah. That”

“Uhuh, I know you’re a you know. Intimately so.” Unfortunately so.

The tandem heads upstairs, dealing with no obstacles on the way. And true to his word, Lupin barely breaks a sweat from the workout. In no time they reach the guest room door. Severus is softly dropped to the floor, his socked feet landing on the wooden tiles. He turns to look at the werewolf.

“Thank you, Lupin. Even though that was both so strange and unnecessary.” Severus mutters, growing sleepier by the second.

Lupin nods, a warm smile on his face, “You are welcome, Severus. I’m glad to help, even though it may be both so strange and unnecessary. Have a good night”

With that the werewolf walks off and through Severus’ tired eyes, the man starts to blend into the walls thanks to his brown ensemble. He rolls his eyes. I bet his favorite food is porridge, the boring bloke.

He heads into the guest bedroom, barely aware of his bag slipping off his torso. Severus is off to sleep by the time his head hits the pillow.

—

Evening rolls around and Severus finds himself once more at the alley of the cabaret club. With a weary, tired sigh, he walks in.

Only to be flanked by Gardenia and Harlow.

“Snape, guess who's back?!” Gardenia whispers loudly, tugging him to the logbook.

“Huh?” he utters, looking at her in confusion, “What are you on about? And let go of my hand! I need to log in.”

The duo bounces antsy watching him put his magical signature into the book. When he does that he turns to look at them both.

“Now who’s back?” 

“Him!” Harlow drags him to the tiny service window to take a peek into the club’s main room.

Severus’ eyes grow wide, then looks at Gardenia and Harlow.

“Uhuh, Mr. Thomas is back.” Gardenia confirms, telling him that what he is seeing is not a hallucination from his own fatigue.

Right there, in the corner of the pub like he had been for the past months is Thomas. His signature three piece suit a stark contrast against the other patrons with their rough robes. The pureblood wizard sits slanted on the chair with his chin braced in his hand, deep in thought. Merlin knows what he’s thinking about because whatever it is it’s not making him the happiest bloke in the world. Thomas actually looks proper pissed. Severus says so to his workmates.

“Shit, you might be right.” Harlow mumbles, then he straightens up and slaps Severus on the back, “Welp, that’s why we’ve got you! Go out there and work your charm, he’ll be smiling in no time.”

Severus cusses, rubbing at the spot that Harlow just hit, “There’s no fucking charm, you idiot. Fuck if I know why you think I’ll have him ‘smiling in no time’.”

“It’s the sugar baby charm, Snape! Go flutter your lashes at him and give him a cute grumpy pout, you’ll be set.” Harlow attempts to push him out of the kitchen only to be momentarily attacked by Gardenia. “Ow! Hey, quit that will you!”

Gardenia harrumps, ceasing the abuse she sent to Harlow’s arm, “Snape doesn’t have to do anything of the likes.” Then she looks at Severus sheepishly, “But I won't lie and say that you don’t have the charm to lift Mr. Thomas’ mood. He likes you a lot.”

“Your sugar daddy’s whipped. ” Harlow adds, still rubbing his arm.

Severus rolls his eyes. Again with the sugaring business? 

“Look, whatever it is you think I can do, I probably cannot. You’re both always so strange and delusional and quite frankly, I’m too tired to deal with both of you, good evening.” With that he walks out of the kitchen and towards Thomas. From the corner of his eye, he can see his boss sighing in relief from the sight of him. Whatever that means.

“Good Evening.” Thomas greets silently, nearly void of emotion. Severus’ eyes subtly widen in shock at his lack of enthusiasm and charm. He also feels a bit offended at the pureblood’s aloof behaviour as though he hasn’t suddenly fucked off for nearly three weeks.

Nonetheless, Severus feels inclined to greet him back, “...good evening.” He sits on his usual spot next to Thomas.

A silence sweeps over their table, one that is heavy with unreleased anger and of extreme awkwardness. Severus purses his lips, looking at him from the corner of his eye, trying to figure out what the hell is wrong with the man. The pureblood is sitting completely still, glaring a hole in the wall like it’s personally fucked him over or something. The only thing that differentiates him from a statue is the sudden bursts of angry sighs that he lets out every once in a while. 

Severus for all his time as Thomas’ club ‘companion’, he’s never seen the man so…livid. Yes, that’s the world. He fears that anything that isn’t favorable to him would set him off in a frenzy.

With that in mind, 10 minutes later, the halfblood attempts to talk to him, “So…how was the trip?”

“Hm?” Thomas barely glances his way, “What trip?”

Severus rolls his eyes, momentarily forgetting to be nice, “Ugh, the trip. The reason why you haven’t been here for about 3 weeks now?”

There’s a flash of something in Thomas’ eyes, before settling back into their emotionless state, “...It was…eventful.”

“I see.” 

Once again, silence befalls them, much to Severus’ chagrin. From the kitchen window, the halfblood could see Harlow waving frantically at him.

‘What?’ He mouths, face contorting in annoyance.

Harlow aggressively points to Thomas, mouthing something unintelligible.

Severus’ face scrunches up in annoyed confusion this time as he cants his head to the side, ‘ What?’

Just then a hand pushes Harlow’s face out of the way and Gardenia pops into view. She rolls her eyes at the struggling man before mouthing to Severus, ‘How is he? Is he still mad?’

Severus glances at Thomas briefly, ‘Seems so. I can’t bloody tell why.’ he mouths before finally trying to halt the conversation with a subtle wave of his hand when Thomas turns to look his way.

“Order what you like, Severus. ”

Huh?

Severus looks at him in mild shock. Thomas didn’t call him by that atrocious nickname he’s given him. Okay something is seriously wrong with this man. He doesn’t know what to do, though. Severus isn’t one to make people feel better, not really. 

With another glance towards his work friends, he clears his throat and turns to look at Thomas completely. “Are you…okay?” he internally cringes. Of-bloody-course he isn’t okay, he’s practically fuming, Severus! Nonetheless, the pureblood glances at him, an angry look on his face, but now with a hint of confusion.

“Hm?” Thomas hums, signaling Severus to repeat his question, or to elaborate. Who knows with this man.

“It’s just that. I-uh-we haven’t seen you for almost a month. And then you come back looking like you’re about to murder everyone in here.” Severus explains, feeling much like a child twiddling his thumbs. 

Thomas lets out a breath from his nose, a silent and barely-there laugh coming out of him, “Nothing to worry your darling head over, Babymine. Just a failure to acquire…certain things we invested in.”

Severus cannot hold back the look of disgust that crosses his face, “You work in stocks ?”

“What? No!” Thomas exclaims defensively and bewilderedly, “What gave you that idea?”

“It’s the ‘failure to acquire the things you invested in’, tell me that isn’t the most stock market thing I’ve heard in my life.” Severus retorts, still very much disgusted at the prospect of Thomas working in something so...dull.

Thomas stares at him for a moment before laughing. Severus looks at him in disbelief, thinking that the pureblood has finally lost his marbles. Thomas tries to control himself but only ends up guffawing harder. This is certainly the first time Severus has seen him lose his cool, one way or the other. Not bothering to be subtle, the halfblood scoots his chair a good meter away. Seeing this only seems to make Thomas laugh way harder. Severus doesn’t even have to look around to know that half the pub is openly staring at the duo. Who wouldn’t? Not with this psychopath cackling up a storm.

Look at him finally showing his true and insane colors.

Finally, for what feels like an hour, Thomas calms down. He caresses his stomach to ease the work out it accidentally endured. He coughs and drinks from the glass of water on their table.

“Oh my, I didn’t think I would laugh like that.” Thomas sighs tiredly, then looks to where Severus is still a meter away. “Don’t be like that, darling. Come back here.”

Severus eyes him suspiciously before reluctantly scooting back into place next to the pureblood.

“...Are you all good now?” 

“Yes, I’m good. In fact you made me feel a whole lot better.” Thomas replies, an insane glint in his eyes, “You’ve inspired me to keep going.”

“Uhuh, good luck on the acquisition, then. I’m not much of a businessman but I heard it’s good to be proactive and goal oriented.” Severus says.

Thomas grins at him, a bright thing that Severus hasn’t seen in a while. They fall into a calmer conversation, tension in the pub softly easing away like it wasn’t there in the first place. The pureblood animatedly recounts his adventures, apologetically keeping some information out due to its confidentiality, which Severus can’t fault him for. Severus, in turn, tells him of his own life updates, obviously keeping details about his slight involvement in the war. Overall, the night is spent with little hints of Thomas’ previous murderous mood from hours ago. Hell, there is barely even the feeling of irritation in Severus’ gut whenever he is within the pureblood’s vicinity. Dare he say, Lily was right.

He might have missed him a little bit.

—

July 30th 11:18 AM

Bloody fucking hell.

Is that even enough to emphasize what Severus feels over the current situation. No, he doesn’t think so, time to really emphasize.

Bloody fucking goddamn shitting hell.

…Good enough.

Here he is with Lily in the guest bedroom of the Tonks household. Not bad, shouldn’t even be bad, they are just hanging out. Like most friends do.

Key word is shouldn’t.

Because what makes it not ‘shouldn’t be bad’ is the fact that it is in fact bad. Lily tells him he’s overreacting but fuck that, one of them has to be the worry wart of the situation. It might as well be him, the superior and smarter one. She disagrees that he is the superior one. But that hardly matters.

Severus barely even remembers much of what happened 30 minutes prior to the bad situation. Having been brewing in his temporary lab with the door open for Lily to watch him from a safe distance. All of a sudden there was a blaring alarm going off in the house, reminiscent of the firefighter alarm he heard from the telly back in the day. The few members loitering around stood to attention quickly and ran out the house. As for Lily and Severus they were magically forced into the guest bedroom Severus was temporarily residing in and was essentially locked in there.

It has been 10 minutes and there is still no one to explain.

Except of course Lily Potter, who after several minutes of angry panicking, Severus finally listens to.

“We’re in lockdown, Sev. Each room is precautioned to close itself to protect those inside them. Only Andromeda is able to lift it.” Lily says, pointing to the magically tinted windows.

“Okay then let’s get her to lift it.” Severus responds, “Should be fine.”

Severus feels something dim within him when she looks at him with apprehension, “What? What is it?”

“Uh…about that-” she starts twiddling her thumbs over her swollen belly, “-see, she’s unreachable right now; strictly so. It’s little Nymphadora’s school Family day.” 

“Family fucking what?” Severus blurts out, “What kind of white-collared family bullshit is that?”

“Family day, Sev! We had that in St. Burrow of Cokeworth elementary, remember? It’s got all sorts of games and prizes.”

Severus' face relaxes in remembrance, “Oh, now I remember. I also remember never attending. My da hated my fucking guts and my ma was always too sick to go.”

“Oh, don’t go reminding me.” Lily sniffles suddenly, “I feel so bad whenever I recall your situation at home.”

“Well, don't go sobbing on me now.” Severus pulls her into a hug with a roll of his eyes, “I’ve left that all behind me now. Tobias can rot in Spinner’s End for all I bloody care.”

“I know that. I just can’t help but feel sad.” She mumbles into his chest.

“Sad? I usually feel a copious amount of rage whenever I look back.” 

She mumbles some more into his shirt, “That’s called unchecked anger issues, Sevvy.” She then rubs her face all over his chest, then breaks free from the hug slowly. 

Severus looks down, scowling, “Did you really have to scatter your snot all over my shirt? This is my favorite one, brat.” 

“Hehe.” she giggles between soft sniffles.

“Anyway, back to the issue at hand,” He starts, wandlessly cleaning his shirt from evidence of her crying, “Nymphadora’s school family day. We really cannot interrupt?”

Lily nods, “Yeah, it’s one of the only rules we have to follow. We are intruding on them after all, dangerously so being the Order.”

Severus purses his lips before sighing in defeat, “Very well, It’s only for a day right? They’ll be back by the evening probably.”

Hope slowly seeps away from him as Lily’s face turns to one of apprehension once more, “What is it now?” he asks, exasperated.

“...It’s a two day event. They’re camping on school grounds. They’ll be back tomorrow afternoon.”

Lily winces when Severus cusses up a storm.

This is going to be a long fucking day

—

July 30th 1:12 PM

“Why is your sun wearing shades?” Severus asks, peaking over Lily’s side of the desk.

“It makes him look cool don’t you think?” Lily smiles proudly presenting her parchment. A smirking sun looking back at Severus behind circle sunglasses. Below the sun is a park that looks much like the one they used to frequent back in Cokeworth.

“Ironic since the sun is meant to be a million degrees probably.” Severus says matter of factly. 

When Lily managed to calm Severus down from his tantrum earlier, they opted to kill time by drawing. So here they are, on the decent sized desk in the guest room drawing whatever the hell they want. To be fair, it is a little bit fun, if only very childish.

Lily harrumphs laying her drawing back onto the table, “I didn’t mean literally, nerd. Besides, it’s an artistic choice. Unlike your…what is that?” she leans into his space, looking down at his parchment.

“It’s pumpkin Dumbledore and pumpkin Moody; and then there's me. It’s a shame that you missed the whole fucking ordeal so I’m drawing it for you.” Severus adjusts his parchment so she could see clearly. Indeed it is Dumbledore and Auror Moody from a week ago when they first revealed their pumpkin curse to him.

“Ugh, that’s so unfair! James was laughing about it for the better half of the week!” She complains, before giggling, “Thank you, though, for the visual. Was Moody’s teeth really spiky?” 

—

July 30th 4:50 PM

“Uh Sevvy?” He hears Lily call out from behind him, a strange lilt in her voice.

“What is it, Lily?” Severus hums back, poking around the window pane boredly. Also in an attempt to find a hole in the lockdown wards.

He hears her shuffle a whole lot, as though she is silently breakdancing, “I’m feeling a lot of pain right now,” she says, “and I don’t think it’s Harry kicking my spleen.”

“What are you on abou-” He turns around only to be still at the sight of her, “ No bloody way .”

“Yeah, I think I’m going into labor.” she informs faintly.

Severus rushes up to where Lily is standing, a pool of water gathering from between her legs, “Why didn’t you say it straight?! Why’d you have to be vague?!”

“I didn’t think I would be going into labor yet! The healers told me that this month will have a lot of contractions and nothing more! I was actually expecting to give birth in–hng–August.” She says, keening by the end of her sentence.

The halfblood helps her toddle off to the bed, carrying half her weight for her. Bloody hell, she’s heavy as fuck…don’t tell her he said that.

He sits her down to which she sighs in mild relief. Her hand grips his with great strength, not enough to make him wince but just enough for him to know that this is probably her way of grounding herself against the pain.

Severus takes his wand out and attempts to cast a Patronus charm, “I better call Potter–” 

“No!” Lily exclaims, pulling him back to her, “No, don’t.”

“Lily, are you mad? What do you mean no! He needs to be here, he needs to find a way to get us out of here and to St. Mungo's right now!”

She shakes her head, tears springing from her eyes, “He’s in the middle of battle right now, Sevvy. I can’t afford to distract him, something might happen to him if we do.”

Severus purses his lips, contemplating on what she just said. Lily isn’t wrong, even just a glance away from a duel is enough to endanger a wizard; what more a wizard worrying over his laboring wife? 

But she’s going into labor!

“But you’re going into labor!” Severus says, “And we are not equipped to deliver a baby!”

“Please…” Lily stays silent for a moment with both her hands gripping his with her face leaning forward, eyes downcast. From this angle, Severus is taken back to a time in their childhood in a position similar to this. A teary-eyed Lily holding onto his hands as if he was her lifeline.

In this situation, he probably is.

“Shit…” Severus whispers, giving in, “Alright, fine. But, we’re going to have to go through this very carefully.”

Lily looks up at him, green eyes shining with unshed tears, “We’ll get through this, Sev.”

“I’ll do all I can.” He replies.

—

July 30 5:47 PM

"Oh Merlin's beard. A vagina." Severus tries not to gag, looking away briefly if only to grasp his crumbling composure.

“Funny how you’re still very much present during my labor.” She whimpers in pain, emphasizing how unfunny the situation is.

Severus stares blankly at her, doing his best to ignore the birthing elephant in the room (fuck don’t tell Lily that he referred to her as an elephant; he will die.)

“Is now really the time to make dumb fucking jokes, Lily.” 

She groans, “I’m allowed to! I’m-uuuuuUUUUUGHHHHH-I’M LITERALLY GOING INTO LABOR!” She screams, “I CAN MAKE SHITTY FUCKING JOKES IF I WANT TO!” 

Severus looks at her in horror, “Right, right. I apologize, come now. Let’s, uh, take a big breath.” he tries to appease her, awkwardly massaging her stomach.

She calms down, as the cramps finally subsided for a moment, “Why are you caressing me, Sev?”

He throws his hands up in the air in defense, “I don’t know! To help you through it, I guess?!” he hysterically grasps at his hair, “I don’t know a thing about childbirth!”

“There, there, Sev. Morgana knows we’re trying to keep each other afloat right now.” Lily pats his head. “Now, did you take a look at my cervical opening?”

“Unfortunately,” he sighs, receiving a smack on the head, “It's roughly the size of a poker chip. Maybe 3 centimeters.” he looks down to his hands to visualize it.

“A poker chip? Why that of all examples?” 

“It's the closest thing I know to that size! You know how much my da loved to gamble.”

“...Right.” She nods.

Severus stands up then walks towards the guest bathroom, “I’ll prepare the supplies, keep it at the ready for when Harry is ready for his debut.”

—

July 30th 8:50 PM

“I read somewhere that you should be kneeling.” Severus pulls her into a seated position.

A gush of water pours from between her legs and to avoid making Lily feel bad about it he spells it clean quickly. She pats his arm in thanks.

“Huh? Why? Shouldn’t I be on my- fuck -my back?” Lily grumbles, allowing herself to be manhandled into position.

“Uh…I think it had something to do with gravity.” Severus says, making her brace herself on the bed in front of them.

“What if Harry bumps his head?” She grumbles into the mattress, exhausted and completely done with this weird fucking situation. Well that makes the two of them, hmp.

Severus pauses, looking down at the space between her legs, “I’m meant to catch him before he does, I think.”

She rolls her head to the side to look at him, “Won't he be slippery?”

He blinks at her. Shit she might be right.

He turns to the head of the bed and grabs a duvet. He folds it and pushes it between her legs, “That should do it.” he says with great hesitance.

—

July 30th 9:10 PM

“...Did I have to be kneeling this whole time? It's not the comfiest position.” Lily inquires, from where she is still kneeling in front of the bed.

Severus hums from next to her, “Since there isn’t any sign of Harry coming out at the moment let's try this.” He goes behind her and carefully lowers her into a seated position. Severus then helps her cross her knees together all the while pulling her ankles closer to her body. When he encourages her to lean forward, Lily lets out a sigh of relief.

“That feels nice on the back.” She says, her head pillowed on her arm, “Did you read about this from somewhere too?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact, I did.” Severus states quite proudly.

“Was this somewhere from our pregnancy book back at home perhaps?” She replies teasingly.

“You were taking a nap, I had to entertain myself somehow.” Severus grins.

They both giggle, only for Lily to groan, “Merlin’s balls, they don’t warn you about the waterfalls from within your vagina.” she flicks her wrist to spell away the water pooling from below her.

—

July 31th 1:10 AM

“Push, Lily, Push!” Severus instructs, from where he is crouching in front of her. He watches closely, hands held out in anticipation for when Harry finally pops out of her. In the end they opt to have her lie on her back. 

Severus’ heart beats wildly, beyond panicked and beyond terrified. He could only watch Lily’s face contort in pain with no way to alleviate it, lest they use potions which Severus isn’t even sure if its safe for use during labor. To help her through it, he occasionally goes to remind her to breathe and give her words of support and encouragement. 

“Sev...SEVVY, IT HURTS! IT HURTS!” She babbles, sobbing as the contractions ripple through her. 

“I know, Lily, I know. You can do it, you’re being really brave for me.” Severus says as he caresses her thigh for a second, “--Okay I can see his head! Go on, Lily, Push! It’s almost over!”

Lily lets out the loudest scream, riddled with agony and pain, he’s ever heard from her.

—

And on the early dawn of July 31th 1980, Andromeda Tonks bursts into the room with her husband in tow. They both stare at the sweating bestfriends lounging on the bed with a newborn baby pillowed on Lily’s torso. Severus looks up at them with a tired look on his face.

“How was Family day?” Severus greets them both casually, as though there isn’t a fleshy placenta a few centimeters away from him, “Why are you back so early? I was told you’d be back later in the day.”

“Nymphadora was crying to go home.” Andromeda says faintly, still staring gobsmacked at the duo. She signals to her husband, not bothering to look at him, “Ted, bring James upstairs.”

Ted runs off to do just that.

An hour later, after the second round of chaos Severus is forced to endure within 24 hours, the Marauders all huddle around the, now clean, bedroom. Potter sits by Lily’s side, gauze and bandages littering his person. Not that it’s significant, not as significant as the wide excited grin adorning his face.

“Come on, Harry. We know you like this Godfather way more. I’m Padfoot, can you say Padfoot?” Sirius coos, slightly shoving Severus away from the crib that Harry is lying in.

“He’s a few hours old, he won’t be saying anything but ‘aaaaa’.” Severus rolls his eyes while pushing Sirius back, futile since he is beyond exhausted; that and the man is built like a brick house, “ I seem to recall all the times you made first years cry, I doubt a baby would like you anymore than an 11 year old does.”

“As if you’ve never made first years cry too, Sniv.”

“...Touché”

The Potter couple watches the godparents from their place on the bed, “Honey, look, Harry’s already got them actually agreeing on something.” Lily tiredly jokes to Potter, who laughs heartily. 

“So he has! Truly my son is quite the influence already, only being 3 hours and 6 minutes old.” James boasts happily.

Chapter Text

Severus stands in front of his ratchet sofa, confused apprehension on his face. He stares down at big bright neon orange eyes that stare back up at him with a blankness that children naturally master. The halfblood looks off to the side towards a floral bookbag slumped over at the kitchen counter. A cat plushie peers from behind the bookbag, meowing at him in curiosity.

He purses his lips, trying to think of something to say. What does one say to a child anyway? Perhaps he should say that this is his first time…being wholly responsible for a child’s being. Don’t get it twisted, he’s met and played with little Draco. He found himself having a good time even. But Cissa and Lucius were there the whole time, ready to swoop in at the first sign of discomfort from baby 1 and baby 2 (Draco and Severus respectively). 

Now though, in his crusty flat of all places, sits little Nymphadora Tonks. Having been dropped off by her parents in a mild rush less than 20 minutes ago.

“You want me to…babysit, Nymphadora?” Severus uttered, staring blankly at Ted Tonks.

The man smiled apologetically, “Ah, we know it's all extremely sudden but there’s been an emergency at me ma’s house. Andi and I are needed there right now.” he explained, “We’d bring Dora, but it’s too dangerous.”

“We swear to compensate you, Severus. We are in a mildly desperate position and you were the first person we thought of.”  Andi, being Andromeda, spoke up in a manner that wasn’t very desperate. But that’s Black mannerisms for you.

Severus sighs and looks up, as though praying to Jesus. He looks down to smile at Nymphadora, though mildly strained, “Hello, Nymphadora. I’m Severus, we’ve met before, remember?”

The little girl nods, before squeaking out, “You’re the doctor living in our bathroom.”

‘Doctor?’ Severus mouths in a subtle way. Ah, right, she’s going to a muggle elementary school. Of course she’d know muggle terms.

“Yes, I was there to help your mommy and daddy’s friends get better. But I wasn’t living in your bathroom, I was just using it to make…medicine.” he cringes as he says that. Why’d he have to make it seem like he cooks crystal meth?

“Oh, that doesn’t sound very clean.” She says, “You should be in a labr-labort-laaaboooraaatory.” she adds, struggling at the end.

He smiles, more genuinely this time, “You’re right about that. Usually I make medicine in the laboratory, but your bathroom was very clean and safe; so I was able to use it just fine. You’re very intelligent, Nymphadora.”

She perks up at the praise, “Thank you!”

Finally at ease, he sits down on his shitty coffee table, “What do you want to do then? I don’t mind playing a game for a bit. I do have to do chores later, though,” his mind wanders to the muggle laundromat just outside of Magical London where his clothes are currently tumbling with a sneaky anti-theft charm. Muggle cleaning just hits different, you know.

“Well…mummy said I should do my homework.” She grumbles, clearly not looking forward to doing such activity.

Severus hums, “Hm, don't worry about that right now. You can do your homework later while I do my chores.”

Her eyes light up, “Really?” she smiles when he gives a nod, “Then let’s play a police game!”

Severus smiles. Very well.

—

Severus blinks tiredly at the pile of fresh laundry sitting on his bed. Nymphadora is off to the little corner of the room that she declared her territory and is in the middle of, Severus hopes, doing her homework. He hadn’t expected this little child to be a ball of concentrated energy and he had to learn the hard way when he ended up having to play with her while she bounced around the flat. That was the most tiring shit he had to go through, second being Lily’s labor just a few days ago, atleast. 

Severus lets out a sigh as he takes another glance at the content metamorphmagus sitting on the floor, with her little cat plushie playing around the notebooks she has littering her little nook before proceeding to tackle the organization of this week's clean laundry in peace.

That was the plan anyway.

A commotion is heard from Alicia’s room, immediately stopping him from focusing on his laundry. Severus can hear her yelping in surprise before another strangely familiar voice, “Oops, sorry. Wrong window.” 

“Wha-Hey! Who the hell are you!” Alicia yells as quick stomps rush towards his door and he stares in surprise when Gardenia’s figure runs in.

“Wha–” Severus grunts when as Gardenia bodily slams into him, “Fuck!”

“Sorry, Snape…” Gardenia groans, sitting up from where they bounced off the bed and onto the floor. They both stand up, dusting themselves off. 

Alicia walks in then, the broom in her hand, ready to attack, “You know this girl, Severus?”

He nods, sending a small glare at Gardenia, “Unfortunately.”

“What are you doing here anyway?” Severus asks, “Either way I might as well introduce you–”

Gardenia cuts him off, pacing slightly, “Can we do that later, I’m kind of going through a little crisis right now.” 

Severus scoffs, eyeing her, “You don’t say? Very well, what’s going on in your life?”

She paces the small room for a bit, before turning to look at him, “Snape…so you remember my whore-next-door?” Gardenia asks, twiddling her thumbs together.

“How could I forget about the man who allegedly had a dozen people run out of his apartment naked after an orgy-gone-wrong.” Severus dryly replies, to which she cringes, “What about him?”

She twiddles her thumbs harder and for a moment Severus ponders if she would get hand cramps from the gesture alone.

“We accidentally had sex.” 

Severus stills then stares at his laundry then purses his lips then looks at her then squints his eyes then glares at his roof with the squinty look on his face.

He breathes in, tilting his head to the side.

“Pardon?” he inquires slowly.

Gardenia whimpers, “Snape, don’t make me say it again…”

Severus blinks once then turns to his laundry, “Don’t make you say it again. Don't make you-This is the same man who had a failed orgy! And didn’t you just tell me a month ago that this same man was rushed to the hospital because he quote-unquote, nearly broke his dick from overuse!” he yells explosively, ignoring the clothes that scattered from his burst of magic.

“Hey! Cut him some slack! He managed to hold off on sex!” then she has the audacity to look bashful, “Well, up until…”

“Up until you accidentally had sex!” he scoffs, “How in God’s name does one accidentally sleep with someone, huh?! Did you slip off your toilet seat and onto his dick?!”

Gardenia, again, has the audacity to look scandalized, “Ew, Snape! That’s fucking disgusting!”

“Not as disgusting as sleeping with the same man who you said was experimenting with shoes, Gardenia! Shoes! There’s kinks and then there’s being a nasty fucker!” He gestures wildly, trying to emphasize just how insane his work-best friend is.

"That man is a slut! In the worst ways possible!" He exclaims.

Severus’ roommate interrupts what was meant to be another rant, “Come on, Severus. It’s the 80s, we don’t slut shame anymore. No matter how slutty they are.” Alicia looks at Gardenia with morbid curiosity, “Nearly broke his dick, you say?”

“What’s a slut?” a little voice squeaks from a corner. 

All three adults freeze as they slowly turn to the source. There sitting quietly with her hair a curious teal with her head tilted to the side is little Nymphadora, playing with the meowing cat plushie and Severus’ copper stirring rod. Very clearly not doing the homework she is intended to do.

For a long, really tense moment, the adults stare at the little girl and her little hands holding her little things after having just said a big bad word.

“Snape…was there always a child there?” Gardenia asks faintly, horrified that the little girl squeaked out such a word. Severus could only nod.

“Dude!” she yelps in exasperation to which he defensively takes a small step back.

“What?! I would have introduced you if you didn’t barge in here guns blazing!” He explains himself, “Didn’t really give me time to speak up now did you?”

As the two argue, Alicia sidles up to Nymphadora, “I will give you 2 galleons if you never say that word ever again.”

Nymphadora tilts her head in contemplation, her hair turning a mischievous tabby orange, “Tell me what it really means too and you’ve got yourself a deal, miss.” She chirps.

Alicia smirks in amusement, “Deal.”

Chapter Text

Two months have passed since the most active attacks happened from the Death Eaters. Everything seems to be dying down again, back to propaganda and manipulation, probably. It almost felt like it abruptly stopped the moment August gently plopped itself on to the present.

That isn’t to say that tension in Magical Britain is at an all time high. Families who were actively vocal about their opinions against the terrorism against muggleborn and muggle racism have gone missing; only a handful of them recovered and taken to Saint Mungo’s for intensive care, in worst cases they’d discover them in a ditch where they were at least given a proper burial. Fights have broken out left and right  in Diagon Alley between purists and muggle rights activists. On the side, Severus has been informed that Dumbledore had to go through extreme measures of separation amongst the Hogwarts students in order to keep them from fighting and landing one another in detention, the infirmary or total expulsion. 

Severus himself had to dodge a few of his old housemates whenever he was in Knockturn Alley, which is often.

…Maybe things are not dying down after all.

The only bit of normalcy comes in the form of his personal life.

Thomas was back to being a cabaret club regular, his apprenticeship was going insanely smooth, two of his Godchildren are alive, healthy and very potato looking. And, just a month ago, Lucius and Narcissa were able to contact him again.

“You must know how sorry I am.” starts Lucius, his face aged with stress and layers of healed, unshowing wounds, “I’ve wanted to reach out to you, but with what happened in July…”

Severus nods in understanding, “I can’t say I blame you, I doubt I’d be able to reach out to you as well. I’ve been really busy with work and my apprenticeship.” he leaves out the part when he’d helped the Order from them.

“As long as you’re safe and away from the war.” Lucius grasps his shoulder in solemn relief and Severus has never felt more guilty.

On the other hand, the Order asked him once more if he was sure with his decision to not be a member of theirs. He doubled down that no, he will not be officially joining them and yes, he is sure.

“I can’t have that responsibility on me, not with my apprenticeship.” He says, “I have to remain as neutral as possible.”

“Helping us wasn’t very neutral.” Lupin pipes in, looking at him earnestly, “We are a vigilante group for a reason, no one will know your involvement.”

Severus sighs, annoyed that he has to spell it out for them, “I already have a lot on my plate, Lupin. I’m not exactly the richest person alive, nor do I like having to constantly lean on rich folks like you do. That won't stop me from coming to your aid when it's direly needed. Only when it’s direly needed”

So that was the best compromise they could think of. His role being an emergency ally for moments of desperation. Not everyone is satisfied with it, but with what’s been happening, they’ll take what they can get.

—

Severus finds himself along the alleyways of Knockturn Alley on the 21st of October, with him is a packed lunch that Alicia accidentally left behind. She’s lucky he’s such an amazing roommate or she would probably have ended up hungry the whole day. Hungry Alicia equals extra grumpy Alicia and extra grumpy Alicia means she’ll be forcing him to clean the flat with her from top to bottom: With not a single centimeter of dirt to be overlooked. So really, Severus is doing this more for himself than for her.

The bells on top give a barely there chirp, probably chalk full of dust. A frowning Alicia looks up from where she was nose deep in a…pornographic magazine. She looks down at the little bag in his hands and sighs in relief. She stands up from where she was previously reclined on a rickety chair.

“Fuck, Severus, you’re a bloody God send.” She plops the magazine on the counter.

Severus peers around the shop before looking back at the magazine, “Enjoying the products then?” he jokes, cringing at the woman blowing him kisses from the cover.

Alicia scoffs, crossing her arms, “Fuck, no! This shop is filled with nothing but degenerate unrealistic erotica.” She gestures around the store, “You know I’m an erotica connoisseur but Morgana knows the only people who actually buy this shit are men who have never received any form of female attention.”

“They don’t attempt to make moves at you, do they?” Severus asks in mild concerns.

“No way in hell. None of them are brave enough to try. All these poor sods can barely look me in the eyes. It’s almost a mockery to myself that I have to work here when I’ve got good game.” She says, referring to her lesbian conquests. 

Severus rolls his eyes, “Ugh, you don’t have to show off.”

“Oi, you’re just jealous that I got game at all! You on the other hand-” she points teasingly at him, “-only have one male attention in your life and you don’t even like him.”

Severus growls, “Oh, sod off, Alicia.” he hands places the packed lunch on the counter, which she quickly takes and attempts to open it, “Is it even your lunch break yet?”

Alicia hums, looking in as though to make sure nothing has gone missing, “Nah, but anytime is lunch time when you’re well sneaky enough. Besides, the boss shouldn't be here for another 10 minutes.” 

Alicia nods in satisfaction and Severus takes that as his queue to leave. He bids her a bitchy farewell and steps out of the shop. He walks off, heading to the direction of their apartment to pick up a few of his books to read through when he goes and visits Lily in an hour. He rounds a corner only to quickly step back when he sees a familiar face heading his direction. Severus curses, unsure why he’s running off but he does. He heads back to the shop Alicia’s working at and curses some more when he realizes that the familiar face is seemingly heading in the same direction. 

Severus slams the door open, making Alicia look at his direction in shock, “Oi, what’s going on with-” she cuts herself off with a yelp as Severus hides behind the counter and pulls her down with him. He shushes her complaints sharply.

“Shut up, Alicia! Look!” he twists her face to the right, ignoring the multiple cracking in her joints.

Despite the death glare of a side eye she gives him, Alicia looks towards the window of the store, there she sees the same familiar figure, “Isn’t that Thomas? Why don't you go and say hi instead of disrupting my job.” She moves to stand up only to be pulled down by Severus once more.

“Stay down!” He rolls his eyes, “As if you’re busy. No one ever comes here in the afternoon,” He rebuts, “And I’m not going to say hi!”

“You are being dumb as shit, right now.” She sighs, “Very well, let’s creep on your boytoy.” she ignores Severus’ grumbling of ‘ He is not my boytoy. ’

They watch in silence as Thomas casually leans against the dirty brick wall in front of the store. He looks at his pocket watch and seems to tsk in disappointment.

“Who’d you reckon he’s waiting for?” Alicia asks.

“We’ll just have to wait and see.” Severus replies.

And so they stay there squatting behind the musty counter of what is basically a wizarding porn shop trying to see just who Thomas is waiting for. Then, just as Alicia’s about to complain about her knees, a shadow scurries along the walls until a hooded figure comes into view. The hooded figure bows in both exhaustion and what seems to be a subtle grovel towards Thomas, who just flicks his wrists dismissively. 

Severus and Alicia share a look.

They watch as Thomas berates the quivering man, who doesn’t stop doing his little bows. Thomas raises his hand up sharply, cutting off whatever the man was saying. He says something that makes the cowering man take out a little box from his cloak, offering it up to the pureblood. Thomas grabs it in one hand, inspecting it as he turns it around. He nods in approval and gives the hooded figure a sack of what the roommates can only assume is Galleons. Severus crawls closer to the window, trying to get a closer look of the mysterious box. 

“What is he holding…?” He whispers, squinting.

“I don’t know but I’m willing to bet it’s drugs.” Alicia shrugs.

He scoffs, “Does he look like the type to do illegal recreational drugs?” Severus asks sarcastically.

“No, but he also didn’t seem like the type to do shady exchanges deep in Knockturn Alley, did he?” Alicia points out, to which Severus couldn’t find it in himself to disagree.

Just as Thomas opens the box, the shop’s backdoor slams open. The roommates jump in surprise and whip their head around to see a gaunt looking man. Alicia curses under her breath at the sight of him.

“Oi, Jeika, what’re you doin’ on the floor, lass? And who the hell is this?” Exclaims the man, pointing accusingly at Severus. 

Alicia quickly stands up, “It’s just my roommate, Mr. Williams. He just brought me my lunch.” She points to the little bag on the floor next to Severus.

Mr. Williams scowls, “Eating on the job, aye? It isn’t even your lunch break yet.”

“Me? Eat on the job? Never. We were just looking for my damn earring!” 

As the two argue, Severus suddenly remembers what he was doing a moment ago and whips his head around.

Only to see an empty alleyway.

Severus curses under his breath and wandlessly transfigures a dust bunny into an earring before standing up. “Here it is, Alicia. It slid under all these…magazines.” Severus says, eyeing the promiscuous women winking at him from the magazine covers.

“Alright, well that’s settled. Now run along now, Severus. You need to visit little Harry don’t you?”

Translation: Whatever the hell that was, go to your local vigilante about it. 

He nods, “Ah, thanks for reminding me. See you later.” he then bows his head towards Alicia’s boss, “It was nice to meet you, sir. I’ll be off now.” he rushes out of the store, ignoring the resuming argument behind him.

—

“Hm…that does seem concerning.” Lily says from where she has Harry perched against her chest.

“See what I mean?” He rubs his chin in thought, his other hand immovable as his pinky is trapped in Harry’s mighty tight grip.

Severus has just finished recounting what happened an hour ago, still trying to decipher what he had seen. What was Thomas doing in Knockturn Alley? To be fair with him being in the Cabaret club a lot, it's already a testament to the pureblood’s frequency in visiting the Alley. What is strange though is the fact that he was there specifically. The shop Alicia works in is well into the area, hidden away from prying eyes of normal wixens. It doesn’t help that Thomas had a dodgy little interaction with a hooded man. What were they talking about? Who was that man and why was he so afraid of Thomas? What was in that damn box?”

This is all becoming very fishy. 

“I have a really bad feeling about this, Sev. Who knows what he was doing?” It could be illegal for all we know.” Lily looks at him with worry, “Jesus, Sev, what if the man’s a drug lord?”

Severus raises his hands up in exasperation, “Why is that the immediate assumption! I doubt he is a drug addict nor do I think he could be a drug lord!”

“Think about it, Sev! How is he able to afford your services almost every night a week? His confidential meetings here and there? Or the fact that he looks so fucking rich; or so you claim. What else can there be?”

“First, he’s a pureblood; I’m pretty sure most purebloods are old money rich. Second, every job requires a certain amount of confidentiality, even I have to keep a thing or two from you for the sake of professionalism. And lastly, that question is the same as the first one, loser.” Severus counters, “Also, really, Lily? Cursing in front of the baby?”

“Oh, sod off, Harry’s a little bag of beans, I doubt he’d remember any of this,” She jokes, tickling little Harry to coax a smile out of him, “What’s Thomas’ job anyway?”

Severus opens his mouth only to hum, crooking his index finger to his lips in thought, “Uh…you know, we never really discussed it.”

Lily widely waves her one arm, causing little giggles to come out of Harry again, “See! You don’t even know what the hell he does! Being a drug lord is in the realm of possibility.”

“...Sure, fine, a drug lord can go on the list of what the fuck he does.” Severus rolls his eyes, “But wouldn’t a drug lord be heavily guarded? The moment I first spilled that drink all over him I’m pretty sure a burly bodyguard would have had me on the ground before I could even realize what was going on.”

“Hm, you make a valid point.” She grunts, “It still does not explain the suspicious little exchange you saw in Knockturn Alley, Sev. What else could there be…?” Lily trails off, both of them humming in deep thought.

A pureblood who is really, really rich.

A pureblood having classified meetings.

A pureblood who was absent for nearly three weeks three months ago.

A pureblood who was doing a potentially criminal exchange deep into Knockturn Alley.

A pureblood that could be a…

Severus and Lily whips their heads around to look at each other, “Death Eater.” They whisper.

Both of them start freaking the fuck out.

“Oh my God, ew . Have I been entertaining a bigot this whole time?” Severus cringes, his hands pulling at his hair.

“Sev, holy shit. Holy shit. ” Lily says faintly, both arms hugging her baby close, “I-Sev! What do we do?” she shakes her head, “What am I saying? We have to go to the Order for this!”

Severus stands up abruptly, “No, no, no, no. We shouldn’t.”

Lily’s upper lip curls up in disbelief, “What do you mean we shouldn't?! Are you out of your bloody mind?!”

“Look. I meant what I said months ago. I do not want anyone knowing about Thomas, least of all the bloody Marauders.” 

Lily groans, “So you’d rather be petty than to have him investigated then?”

Severus paces a bit, “They don’t have to know, because I’ll be the one to investigate.”

“What the fuck.”

“Yeah, why the hell not? I’ve already established contact with him. Six months to be exact, it won’t be suspicious if I go to suss him out.” 

Lily frowns deeply, “That doesn’t sound very safe. Just let Auror Moody do it, he is mighty efficient when it comes to these things.”

“Yeah, mighty efficient because he hexes the ever loving fuck out of these people. Merlin knows he’s trampled on multiple human rights laws while he’s at it.” Severus sasses.

“You make a fair point…” Lily trails off, “But that doesn’t stop him from being able to get answers out of Thomas!”

Severus stops in front of her, “And what if he isn’t a Death Eater after all? Do you know the domino effect this would have on everything? I’d lose my job, Moody would lose his and the Order would be at risk of exposure, which is the last thing you lot need. Thomas is also literally rich enough to sue every single one of us all the way to the depths of hell. And that’s just to name a few things.” he explains, trying to justify his idea to Lily. It works, at least enough that she slumps in her seat.

Lily caresses Harry’s back, “I hate when you’re right about things like this.” she grouses, “Fine, say we let you do this little investigation on your own. What if he really is a Death Eater? What if he finds out that you found out that he is a Death Eater? What then?” 

“Then I’ll hex him all the way to Moody’s doorstep, reveal his criminal association, I go back to my job, my studies and forget Thomas ever existed. Good riddance, if you ask me.” he sits back down, waving his hand dismissively. 

“Come on, you don’t genuinely think it's that easy, right? You’re smarter than that, Severus.”

“Just trust me, I’ll be as inconspicuous as possible. He won’t even know what’s happening until it’s too late.” 

Lily and Severus stare each other down, both unwilling to back down from their own ideas. Just when Severus’ eyes start to blur with tears, Lily looks away, cursing as she rubs at her eyes. He cheers as she does so, to which she glares.

“Fine, you dumbass! You win! Go on that suicide mission and take on a Death Eater on your own.” 

“An alleged Death Eater, Lily.” He reminds her, “We could be exaggerating for all we know.” 

“Then we go back to the drug lord theory then?” She jokes grumpily, to which he laughs.

“Yes, yes, we’ll entertain the drug theory.” 

“Very well. Just please be safe.” They share a look, easily conveying what they wanted to say. With that Lily stands up and places a napping Harry into the crib.

They carry on with their study date in silence. Her Charms notes in her hands. After Harry’s birth, she’s been given the go signal by her Charms Master to return to her apprenticeship. He allowed her to stick to studying for now, although when Harry’s four months old he can be safely babysat by the Potter house elves where she’ll be more than ready to head back to his school. Which also means that she can go back to being an active member of the Order, a thought that makes Severus extremely nervous. He wished he could just take Lily and Harry away from Britain and it’s catastrophic politics, but he knows Lily would just beat him up, heal him, beat him up again and then drag him right back.

He spares her a glance and with a sigh, goes back to his latest experimental notes and attempts to push away thoughts of the war, potential Death Eaters and potential drug lords from his mind.

—

“A fucking what?” Severus asks, looking down at the flier in his hand.

It’s been a week and there has been little to no progress to his investigation. Rather he always forgot to, constantly distracted by Thomas’ irritating charms and illusive words. By the time Severus is back in his flat, he’d only remember what he was meant to do. Luckily, Lily reassured him that he could take his time.

“A Halloween party, Snape! The boss thinks it's good for the business to have themed little nights; especially during major holidays!” Gardenia says, eyes glittering in barely contained excitement at the thought of a party.

Severus can't help but scrunch his face up in confusion, “That has got to be the dumbest shit I’ve ever heard in my life.”

“Oh come on! It’ll boost morale! You more than anyone know how tough times are right now. Wouldn’t be bad to have a little halloween party on the side. Surely this’ll be nostalgic to your school days! I know it reminds me of house parties back in DC.” Gardenia exclaims in excitement. Severus barely holds back a cringe.

Nostalgic, sure .

“Very well, And this’ll happen on the 31st, hm.” He reads out the details on the flier. 

“Yep, yep!” Gardenia squeals, “Oh, I can’t wait to wear my costume! It’s very cute!”

Severus graces her with a small smile, God knows how he ended up having such a soft spot for Gardenia, “I’ll put on the biggest cloak I own, chomp on some fake fangs and call it a day.”

He then speaks in a butchered Romanian accent, “Bleh, bleh, bleh. I’m Dracula.”

“Haha, about that…” Gardenia starts, “Costumes are assigned.”

Severus stares at her blankly, “What do you mean costumes are assigned?” 

“ Well…” She starts, “Boss did a little tally among the customers. Asking them what costume would look best on each server. They casted their votes and it’s what we’ve been told to wear.” 

“That is probably the most degenerate thing I’ve heard right now.” Severus says.

Gardenia rolls her eyes, “Oh, come on! It isn’t anything too bad.” 

“Fine. Show me what I’m meant to wear.” He sighs tiredly.

“There’s no way in God’s greenest earth I’m wearing that.” Severus immediately hisses, tempted to cast a Bombarda on the offensive piece of clothing Gardenia is holding up. 

She pouts, “You haven’t even worn it yet! How do you know it’ll be bad?”

“I don’t have to wear it to see that it looks like something out of a shitty and inaccurate historical film!” Severus leans closer to inspect it, “Yeah, no. Not a bloody chance.”

Gardenia huffs, “Snaaaaaape, you’ll only ever wear this for one night. Then you can rip this to smithereens, burn it to ashes and have it thrown out into the ocean. Just this once, will you pleeeeaaaaseee wear it!”

He crosses his arms, mouth in a thin line as he is unwilling to say more.

Gardenia sighs, “I guess I should have brought this up first. But…Boss is giving us bonuses for themed nights. Wearing this will give us at least 13% of how much we earn in a night.” She says with confidence, knowing that this will be the thing that finally convinces him.

Severus frowns harder. Now, is he really that down bad for cash?

The answer is an immediate, “Fucking fine.”

Come Halloween and the night life is bustling with excited energy. Children in Diagon Alley all run around to each store, where the business owners are giving away little treats. Teenage squibs go around pranking the little tykes, cackling away the night like stereotypical muggle witches. 

In Knockturn Alley, though. In a little cabaret club, a Halloween themed night is well into becoming a part of the top ten things Severus finds very horrible. He walks out of the staff bathroom, face twisted in a thunderous scowl. Severus’ eye twitches at every involuntary movement happening right above his ass.

Gardenia looks towards him, a set of bunny ears on top of her curls standing straight up in excitement, “Oh, Snape, you look amazing!” she gushes, rushing towards him.

“Please, spare me the compliments. I know I look awful in this.” This being a mockery of Ancient Grecian robes wrapped around his person. Severus scowls down at himself and his half exposed chest, wanting nothing more than to hide his left nipple away from Gardenia; from everyone really. The robes are decently comfortable, a stark white that fades to a gray color that goes all the way down to his feet, which were forced into sandals of all things. At the top of his head, a delicate golden wreath wraps is magically pinned to his hair just below the fox ears.

Oh did he forget to mention the fucking fox appendages?

How could he forget? How could he forget the thing that amplifies what is basically one of  the most unbearable situations he’d ever had to experience in his barely starting adulthood.

White fox ears and a tail to match it. Fuck everything, literally fuck everything.

He scowls harder when he feels both fox appendages tense and move according to his emotions. Merlin knows what kind of enchantment their boss placed on them to make them as real as this. 

“I’m not bullshitting you, Snape. I swear you look incredible buddy.” Gardenia assures, her hands on his arms while she looks up, “Oh and the fox ears! It contrasts so nicely against your hair.” she coos, she goes to pet them but he dodges away. 

“Ugh, please stop reminding me of them. I can literally feel them moving and shit.” he groans, “Why’d he have to make them this realistic? We could easily have just worn headbands.” 

“Because this is a magical Halloween party and we are all very magical, duh.” She says, caressing her bunny ears, “I also quite like the ears, it makes me look really cute.”

Severus scrutinizes her costume. Ignoring the bunny ears and tail, she seems to be wearing a black and red waistcoat, red hearts a littering pattern on her tie, “What are you supposed to be and why are you wearing more clothes than I am?” 

She giggles, twirling around, “Do you like it? I’m dressed as the bunny from Alice in Wonderland.” She takes out a pocket watch from the vest and pretends to look panicked, “I’m late! I’m late! For a very important date!” 

He rolls his eyes, “Alright, I get it. You didn’t have to do all that.” 

Gardenia pockets the watch, her grin widening, “But that’s the fun of it all! Playing the part!”

“Sure, but I refuse to play any parts.” Severus sasses, crossing his arms in irritation (but mostly to hide his nipple).

“Hehe, you’re already playing a part.” she says, “You are, after all, the fox that could never be caught.” she adds cryptically.

“What the hell does that mean?” He asks as both of them step out of the backroom, him more begrudgingly than her. They both ignore the wolf whistles they receive.

She smiles teasingly, pointing to the very familiar corner of the club, “I think it’s self explanatory.” 

Severus groans, realizing immediately what she means, “I hate you very much right now.” 

Gardenia laughs, “No you don’t” She speaks in a singsong, only to yelp when she gets smacked in the face with his tail, “Plflflf! Hey!” she attempts to get fur out of her mouth. He smirks at her before walking off, ignoring her cursing. He walks up to his usual table, not paying attention to the pureblood already seated. 

“Good eve-what in the actual bleeding fuck are you wearing.” Severus blurts out, staring at Thomas with a scandalized disbelief. 

Thomas stands up, adjusting the white ring underneath his shirt’s collar, “It’s a priest costume, obviously.”

Severus gapes, trying to formulate words. Under Thomas’ black trench coat is indeed a priest costume. A rosary decorates his neck, along with a purple stole, yellow fringes at the bottom with two painted crucifixes right above them. Merlin’s beard there’s a Bible in his hand.

“I-wha-” Severus stutters, “I’m pretty sure a handful of muggles would have a strongly worded lecture on how blasphemous that is.” he says, still gaping like a fish.

"Relax, darling. I'm not about to ask you to confess your darkest sins," Thomas closes his mouth with a finger, then grips his chin, "Nor will I ask you to confess your deepest desires." He continues, voice going an octave lower as he leans down to move inches away from Severus' face.

Severus’ brain short circuits for a moment then restarts fast enough to slip away from the pureblood priest, “Personal space, twat.” he scowls.

Thomas brings his hands up in surrender, “Alright, alright.” Then he leers at Severus, “And what might you be?”

Severs feels the very real feeling faux fox ears on top of his head twitch in irritation, “Apparently, 

I’m supposed to be Canis Minor.” He glares towards Harlow bartending in a ridiculous magician costume, “Although, if you ask me. They probably just said that to force me into enchanting ears and a tail on me, halloween costume or not.”

“Ah, Teumessian Fox, the uncapturable fox. How fitting.” Thomas smiles, “Personally voted for the butterfly but I guess I lost against the majority.”

Severus glowers, “I’d like for you to shut up.” 

Thomas places a hand on his chest, a scandalized look on his face, “Is that how you should be speaking to a priest? I’ll have you know I personally shook the Pope’s hand.” Thomas jokes, an annoying smile gracing his face once more. 

“Please don’t tell me you’ll start roleplaying a priest.” 

“Hm, might as well.” Thomas' smile widens to a grin.

Chapter Text

Severus groans for about the sixteenth hundred time as he watches what is currently transpiring before his very eyes. He should have known that Thomas is the type who demands attention, whether on purpose or not. His fox ears twitch in irritation as the crowd cheers once more. 

Blessed be these gullible drunkards.

Thomas stands by the bar with his arms passionately spread, one of his hands holding open a bible he pretends to read from, as he gives a bloody sermon to a bunch of magical folk. The pureblood looks around gracefully as his mouth turns up to a small smile. He speaks with a false softness, a kind lilt, as though he were actually speaking the words of God when in fact he is-

"And we must stay strong , my brothers and sisters, for the breath-taking wixen serving us every evening are blessing us with their presence and their time and their beauty , spoiling us with such rich indulgence. Who are we to selfishly take and take and take? It is why its crucial for us to shower them with gifts and pay them back for the care and love they have provided us."

-preaching about the hosts and hostesses of the establishment of all things.

Severus looks around the club, seeing a bunch of people watching with amusement and cheering him on (not knowing that a typical sermon is meant to be either silent or accompanied with 'amens' not 'fuck yeahs!'. There's a handful of drunks, Severus observes in disbelief, watching Thomas with reverence. Their intoxicated eyes shining with a kind of weird enlightenment one can attain about the concept of cabaret clubs. 

"-Peace be with you." Thomas says, ending his 10 minute sermon. How he managed to hold the attention of these idiots for that long is beyond him.

"And also with you!" Gardenia hollers back, the other people in the club follow suit.

Thomas bows and makes his way through the crowd, a handful of them actually going to shake his hand. As though he just delivered the speech of the nation.

“Hn, hello once again, Father Thomas.” Severus greets sarcastically, server instincts kicking in as he hands him a drink.

“Darling, how’d you like my sermon? I felt it imperative to discuss all the work you and your fellow hosts have done for these degenerates.” Thomas grins, taking the offered drink to take a sip.

“These degenerates?” Severus rolls his eyes, “You’re part of that demographic, idiot.”

Thomas gives a mock offended look, “Don’t lump me in with these bastards. I like to think that I’m on a different pillar, away from them.” 

That’s probably because you are probably a Death Eater. Probably.

Severus is suddenly hot with the very strong reminder that he is meant to be investigating Thomas and his shady business.

He shakes it off, now isn’t the time. Severus looks around, assessing that there are too many civilians that might get hit if a duel is to break out between the two. If Thomas is a Death Eater.

For now he keeps the thought at the back of his head. The night is still young after all, there’s plenty of opportunities to totally bust his ass. Is what Severus has been telling himself for the past week at least.

“I don’t suppose you’re a public speaker for a living, are you?” Severus asks instead, easing his way into an interrogation masked as pleasant conversation. Putting pleasant veeeery lightly.

Thomas waves him off, “Not really. I dabble in it sometimes. In my line of work, you really have to be convincing, if you want to sell your pitch.” 

“Mh, like a businessman, then?” Or a Death Eater recruiter, HM?!

“Something like that. Almost exactly like that. My…business usually needs a lot of funding, and so I make contacts, form deals, and basically promise that I’ll be making their money’s worth.” explains Thomas, and Severus squints his eyes at the vague answer.

Severus thinks for a moment, “What is your business? Was it like being in the stock market?” he asks jokingly, thinking back to their conversation 3 months back.

Thomas laughs, “No, darling. I do not work in stocks. I find it dreadfully boring.” he says, “Think more…security.” 

“Security?” Severus asks, unconsciously petting his tail.

“Yes. See, with us having to abide by the International Statute of Secrecy, it's actually quite tricky trying to adjust wards constantly. Be it our homes, our stores or just the entirety of Magical Britain, we have to adjust to the muggle’s quick technological advances that put our communities at risk of being found out. So my company lives by protecting all wizarding kind, and keeping the muggle’s brutish ways from killing off any and all of us.” Thomas takes another sip of his drink, watching as Severus takes in the information.

Okay, he didn’t really expect such a detailed answer. Not with Thomas always being so evasive about his personal life. Protection of wizarding kind. Security. Muggle’s…brutish ways. Severus admits that he has experienced a muggle’s brutality, thanks to his father being the deadbeat hothead that he is. But there were good muggles too: people like Mr. and Mrs. Evans who has shown him nothing but kindness, who treats him like a child of their own.

What is one good-for-nothing man against the Evans? What are violently prejudice muggles against unconditionally kind ones?

“That’s quite the generalization, isn't it? I doubt all muggles are going to burn us at the stake on sight.” Severus says, calling out his very Death Eatery logic.

“Be that as it may, but the wizarding law was put into place for a reason.” Thomas frowns, “Even you know of the catastrophic Salem witch trials in the US? That was the final straw for the ICW to put drastic plans into motion.” 

Thomas sighs, “It would be nice, though, to no longer hide in plain sight. To stop cowering against muggles who have these…prejudices. And go great lengths to uphold these prejudices.” 

Severus falls silent once more, unsure of what to say. While it makes sense for a wizard to scorn prejudiced muggles (he, himself having to live with one who hated everything about him),  this political talk is not his forte; Lily’s the more politically intelligent of them both, him having decided to only know the bare minimum. Can you really blame him, though? Being surrounded by Slytherins who talked about nothing but purity this, keep muggleborns out of our world that, for seven years straight, you’ll start avoiding most politics as much as you could.

“Ah, I apologize for the dreary talk on magical security. Not while there’s a party going on.” Thomas apologizes, smiling at Severus.

Severus shakes his head, “It’s fine.” He then scowls, “It’s better than having to hear you attempt to flirt with me.”

“You say that like I haven’t succeeded in sweeping you off your feet.” The pureblood teases, leaning closer.

“That’s because you haven’t, twat.” he swats his faux fox tail at Thomas, who laughs in delight.

“I didn’t even realize. Your appendages are extremely soft.” Thomas says, hands darting out to pet his tail. Severus blushes, feeling his hands skim through the fur. Man this tail feels way too real to be fake. Damn enchantment, damn bastard boss.

Severus hisses, smacking the pureblood’s hands away in irritation, “Do not touch it! Merlin, you are so weird!” He hugs his tail, leaning sideways to keep it away from Thomas’ pervert hands.

“You felt that? Interesting.” Thomas leers, “I wonder how sensitive they are.”

“Stop it! Stop being such a pervert. You are being extra unbearable tonight.” Severus glares at him with an intensity that would probably strike fear into a classroom of children. It’s too bad Thomas isn’t bothered by it.

“What can I say, you look very beautiful tonight.” Thomas looks him up and down, then settles his gaze somewhere below Severus’ face.

Severus instantly adjusts his tail-hugging, trying to use his forearm to cover his exposed nipple. Holy shit, holy fuck, this is probably the most embarrassing night he’s had to go through. All the while stone cold sober! He knows deep down though, that being intoxicated while wearing an outfit like this is just begging for a disaster to happen.

It doesn’t mean he’s enjoying it at all though, because he isn’t!

He bares his teeth at Thomas, which only seems to widen his sleazy smile to a cheeky grin.

"Your boss has quite the eye for details." with quick hands he cups Severus' face and leans close, "He's given you little fangs."

“These little fangs will bite the fuck out of you if you do not get away from me right now.” Severus snarls, leaning away further. Dear Merlin, he's so tired. It’s not even midnight yet.

No point dwelling on the usual torture, though.

From there they finally, finally, settle into more comfortable conversation. Comfortable as in, Thomas doesn’t spew too much bullshit every 5 minutes. They watch as the other club dwellers prance around drunkenly, boisterous laughter filling the space up as the party goes on well into the very early morning.

A small bell chimes from above Severus, signaling the end of his shift and subsequently the end of the Halloween party. As relieved as he was, Severus couldn’t help but internally curse. He hasn’t had the chance to interrogate Thomas any further.

Severus watches as Thomas starts packing his things, knowing that the man usually leaves at the same time he does. He tries to think of how to keep the man from leaving. Then an idea hits him. It’s not a very good idea, mind you, but it's enough to stall Thomas. Enough to give Severus time to think of another plan. Being away from Hogwarts has made him both unSlytherin in behavior and very much more idiotic, Severus swears. Dare he says, he is exhibiting Gryffindor behavior. How embarrassing.

“Well, darling. This party was exciting. Although it looks like it's time for both of us to go. I’ll see you Tuesday evening.” Thomas stands up, his briefcase in hand.

“Wait!” exclaims Severus.

Thomas turns to him, surprised at his sudden outburst, “Is something wrong, dear?”

“Can you-uh.” Severus stutters, trying to swallow his pride. 

“Hm? What is it?” Thomas asks.

“...Would you like to…uuuhhccompany me for a walk?” Severus ground out, going along with his on-the-spot plan.

Thomas stares at him for a moment, a slow smile appearing on his face. He doesn’t say a word.

“Ugh, well?” Severus sasses, raising his eyebrows in irritation.

“Are you…” Thomas pauses dramatically, “Are you actively trying to spend more time with me?”

Severus rolls his eyes, “Don’t let it get to your head.” he looks away, annoyed that he’s becoming a bit bashful, “I’ve got nothing going on tomorrow, so I can stay out longer.”

“And you decided to invite me for a walk then?” Thomas teases.

The halfblood bites his tongue, trying very hard not to lash out at Thomas. He reminds himself adamantly of the mission he placed upon himself, “Look, if you don’t want to you don’t have to. I’m sorry for trying to keep you.” Severus says, baiting him instead.

Thomas’ teasing smile dims a bit as he coughs, “No, no. I’d love to go on a walk with you. I was just surprised. You don’t usually seek out my company beyond necessary.”

Severus sighs. He’s got him there.

“Call it the jolly Halloween spirit.” Severus drawls, standing up and smoothing down his robes. 

“Christmas spirit, darling,” Thomas responds, “You’re thinking of Christmas spirit.”

“Whatever, let me just do what I need. I’ll meet you out front.” 

Severus goes to the back to clock out. He’d go and change into more comfortable clothes but he’s been told earlier that the clothes he changed out of earlier would be delivered back to his flat by some elf. Merlin knows why his boss decided to do that. Perhaps a fucked up form of powerplay to show Severus that his boss can do whatever the fuck he wants. Either way, Severus finds himself outside the pub five minutes later, walking alongside Thomas. 

“Where do you want to head off to?” Thomas inquires, as the sound of the loud pub starts to muffle with distance.

Severus ponders for a moment before deciding, “I think I want to go to that park again.”

Thomas smiles, happy with the choice, “Let’s go.” He leads the way at a leisurely pace.

The two wizards stroll out of Knockturn Alley and head to the park, the Autumn weather making the trees sing a soft tune in the earliest of the morning. A comfortable sort of silence wraps around the both of them as they take in the sight of the park in the dark. The only other people outside at this hour asides from them are squib teens fucking around, most likely smoking pot and drinking beer away from prying eyes. Behind the bushes to the far left, based off of Severus’ prying eyes.

While Thomas hums a soft tune, Severus' mind flashes to his visit to the Potter home a week after he and Lily realized that Thomas might potentially be a Death Eater. Lily hardly shared Order updates with him, respecting that he did not want to be more involved with it. This, though, was an exception.

"Sev, there's been a recent discovery upon reviewing all the captured," She starts, watching Severus put away his books, "And it might just help us find out Thomas'...political alignment."

Severus turns to her, "What is it?" 

"Kingsley connected the similarities on all 5 Death Eaters they've captured; there's a tattoo on their left arm." She grabs a pen and paper lying on the coffee table, scribbling quickly, "We don't know much about their magical properties and what they can do but it is definitely the identifier of the group." Lily brings the paper up to his face.

"This is roughly what it looks like."

Severus tries to remember what it looks like, Lily's always been quite shit at drawing but he knows that it looks like rope in the shape of an 8 with a circle in the middle.

He thinks.

The halfblood scrunches his face up. Now how am I supposed to have a gander at Thomas’ left arm without looking suspicious?

He side eyes the rich man, a far away look graces the man’s face. Good, it means that Thomas doesn’t suspect a thing.

Severus shivers slightly as cold wind swoops in once more. He cringes when he feels his exposed left nipple harden from the weather. Merlin knows what he’s thinking! Going for a walk in just this poor excuse of a toga in the cusp of winter, with a pureblood with pureblood manners and probably backwards pureblood beliefs and-

…Hm!

Pureblood manners!

A man like Thomas, despite the alleged darkness, is the type to be gentlemanly no? Chivalrous, even. 

So with a shivering Severus with only a thin piece of fabric around his person and a pureblood Thomas with a thick trench coat…surely…

Severus sighs inwardly, knowing he is about to embarrass himself further. 

He coughs, “Shit…'' he bites out, making a show of wrapping his arms around himself, “It’s freezing.” Severus didn’t even have to fake his teeth chattering.

Thomas looks at him, a concerned frown on his face, “Oh, darling, I forgot you were only wearing that.” he brings his hands to his arms, making a sound from the back of his throat, “Merlin, you feel like a block of ice!” Thomas rubs Severus arms, his hands and the friction warming them up comfortably. Severus sure hopes he doesn’t plan on jerking his limbs off for the rest of the morning. 

Like a God or two was watching in on them, he’s blessed with a strong gust of wind bellowing his robes, his subtle shiver growing to a full grown bodily shake. Thomas curses, “Do you want to head on home, dear? I can take you home if need be.” he proposes, making a gesture with his head.

Severus shakes his head, “No! I want to keep walking.” he then adds, “I don’t get to visit the park often, busy schedule and all that.”

Thomas purses his lips, “We can’t go at the expense of your health, darling. Surely we can schedule a more opportune time for a stroll?”

Okay, Severus cannot help but feel a warmth in his gut at the concern Thomas is showing him but by Morgana’s saggy tits this isn’t the kind of chivalry he was going for! He stands his ground, going as far as taking a reluctant step back away from Thomas’ warm hands. With a stubborn frown, the halfblood turns away slightly and proceeds to walk slowly.

He listens intently, trying to decipher the rich man’s next move. He smirks when he hears Thomas curse under his breath alongside rustling. Severus makes a show of jumping when he feels Thomas’ trench coat being placed on him. He turns to Thomas with a perplexed expression.

He should have pursued an acting career at this rate.

“Don’t argue with me, darling. If you’re going to be stubborn then at least wear my coat.” Thomas chides, before giving a small satisfied smile, “You look really good in it anyway.”

This time Severus doesn’t even have to act as he looks down bashfully, blessed that the weather has made his cheeks already rosy to cover up the fact that he is blushing from Thomas’ words. His eyes, skims to the rich man’s arms to which he curses internally at the sight. Despite the coat being off Thomas’ person, he is still very much wearing the priest cassock. The sleeves of the black robe go up to just barely past his wrists, definitely keeping his arms unexposed and away from the halfblood’s investigative eyes.

Ugh, is this some sort of joke?

He harrumphs, Thomas interpreting it as a reaction to his words and not to the tattoo predicament he’s in. They carry on walking after Severus secures the coat around his body, although keeping his arms out of the sleeves, for better access to his wand and to avoid having to drown in the long fucking sleeves.

“This is the third time we’ve been to this park.” Thomas informs Severus who looks at him in confusion

“What? I’m pretty sure this is only the second time. The first time was the errand, remember?” he states, trying to reboot Thomas’ memory. Poor sod, so old. His memory is probably failing him.

Thomas shakes his head, laughing lightly, “To you sober, maybe. But you seem to forget the time you got hammered.” he combs through his hair, his grin widening at the memory, “Your drunken directions led us somewhere around here; actually.” He takes Severus’ right hand with his left, pulling him along as he walks off the pavement and onto the grass to the right, leading him off trail.

Severus’ complaints go ignored, making him grumble. Instead, he looks at their intertwined hands. He becomes actively aware of Thomas' left arm. With a glance towards the rich man guiding him excitedly, he takes his wand out and…and what?

What spell would help him uncover his forearm inconspicuously?

The halfblood purses his lips, sifting through the long list of spells he knows. None are ‘show me tattoos’ without his notice, though!

Were he to splash water on his sleeves, Thomas could easily spell it dry. Flicking mud would just be solved with a scourgify. Ugh, this is the most underprepared Severus has ever been. How embarrassing.

During Severus’ internal conflict, Thomas finally brings them to a secluded little area of the park. The charmed lampposts surrounding the section give off a very dim light, as though no one has come around to replenish them in a while. The rich man leads them to a lonesome bench where he encourages Severus to sit. He does, cursing as he did because damn the bench is bloody freezing! Thomas chuckles and apologizes. With a flick of his hand, he casts a warming charm on the bench, making Severus sigh in relief.

“This is where we apparated to that night.” Thomas gestures around him, sitting on the bench next to him. Severus feels very silly but he’s been following every single movement the pureblood’s left limb makes, just in case he sees a glimpse of the tattoo.

“Ugh, I thought we agreed on never bringing that up.” Severus grouses, glaring at Thomas.

The rich man chuckles, “Surely you’d be a little more comfortable talking about your blackout endeavor now? It’s been months, after all.” he jokes, but willingly backed off the topic.

They fall into easy conversation, talking about mundane little facts about themselves. 

“I’m neither a cat or a dog person.” says Thomas, in response to Severus admitting to his childhood dream of having a dog, “I find that I prefer low maintenance, independent animals.”

Severus hums, “Like what? Cats are known to be independent.” he argues.

“Sure, but they’re still quite prone to being picky and sassy. Not to mention they like to terrorize your furniture.” Thomas rebuts to which Severus chuckles, “Something more independent would be a snake. Those I really like.”

“A snake.” Severus says, deadpan.

“Don’t look at me like that, darling! Snakes are quite the creatures, you know. Severely misunderstood and very sweet.” Thomas explains, sighing happily at the thought of…a snake.

Severus is a Slytherin forever and always, but he doesn’t think he’d ever want a pet snake; just the thought alone makes him a little queasy. I suppose being an alleged Death Eater, you’ve got to have questionable life preferences even if it’s in the form of wanting a pet snake.

“I suppose you’d want your hypothetical pet snake to have a spider friend, huh?” Severus jokes, adding to the peculiarity. 

“Are you joking? You will never catch me with a spider 5 meters too close to me.” Thomas scoffs immediately, “Of all the things I hate in the world, spiders almost make it at the top of the list.” 

Severus perks up, at the new bit of information. “Really? I wouldn’t have expected you to be afraid of them.” Soft spot for snakes but fearful of spiders, strange man.

“I’m not afraid, I simply have a strong distaste for the bastards.” Thomas corrects him, “I met one up close and I was not a fan.”

“Did it bite you or something?”

“Or something.” Thomas replies, shuddering at whatever memory flew into his mind.

A light bulb flickers from above Severus’ head, the closest thing he has to a decent plan coming into thought. 

“You mentioned liking snakes but aren’t you afraid they would bite you? Being venomous and all?” Severus asks, baiting him into a distraction.

Thomas takes the bait, “Well, not all snakes are venomous, darling. Even primary school students know this. But you see, owning a snake truly isn’t all that bad. In fact…”

Severus silently conjures a small spider beneath the bench, using his magic to keep the spider from crawling away. He hums at the right times, only half listening to Thomas’ lecture. As subtle as he can, Severus slowly guides the spider with his wand, having it crawl up Thomas’ trousers. The man in question turns to look at him which prompts Severus to hide his wand hand further into the borrowed coat as he nods at him to show that he is still listening. Thomas looks away again, making gestures with his hands as though there really is a snake in front of him. Severus internally sighs and carries on in guiding the spider up.

The creepy crawler hops onto Thomas’ elbow in a blink of an eye, unseen by the man due to the spider’s dark color. It slowly but steadily walks towards Thomas’ left wrist, all eight of its legs moving independently and out of sync, making even Severus shiver at the sight. When it finally reaches the sleeves’ button, the halfblood moves on to the second part of his plan, where Thomas is sure to reveal what is needed.

“Uh…Thomas.” Severus calls out to him, poking him on the arm. Thomas, too focused on his tangent of endangered species, ignores him. He grunts, trying again, “Thomas, I do not want to alarm you but-” Thomas finally looks at him, “There’s a-” he points to the spider.

He watches the moment alarms are set off in the pureblood’s mind as his eyes widen at the sight of the tiny spider.

Here we go.

Thomas lets out a yelp at the sight of the tiny spider, trying to slap it away. He fails due to the spider’s quick reflexes, and with a barely seen hop, it goes underneath his sleeves. The rich man’s face pales as he feels the spider crawling up his arm. He abruptly stands up, cursing in a way that Severus has never seen him curse before. Thomas hastily unbutton his sleeve, roughly pulling it up.

Severus leans in close to see–

–nothing…

Only clear skin with not a single ink in sight.

What? There’s not fucking way.

He watches Thomas continue to freak out in disbelief. Was Lily’s intel wrong? He doesn’t think so. He’s barely spoken to Auror Shacklebolt, but the one time he did they discussed the component of the potions that spread the poison-induced illness months back. He remembers begrudgingly respecting the Ravenclaw alumni for being so damn meticulous about everything Severus could distinguish from the potions. There was no doubt that his inked evidence is not false. 

What if it’s on the right arm then?

“Aha!” Thomas cries out in victory, stomping at the poor arachnid that is barely the size of his fingernail. He breathes heavily, trying to calm himself down after valiantly fighting off the spider away from his person. Seeming to remember himself, he coughs in embarrassment. He turns to Severus who continues to watch. Frustration builds up in Severus very quickly, two weeks of being uneasy around him, trying and failing to confirm his association to the Death Eaters, wearing this obnoxious costume with obnoxious fox appendages, embarrassing himself tonight. 

His temper snaps.

“Sorry about that, darling.” Thomas apologizes with a red face, “I wasn’t kidding when I said–huh?” He cuts himself off when Severus roughly pulls up both of Thomas' sleeves. He twists the arms around upon seeing no mark on his wrists.

"What's got into you, darling?" Thomas asks in shock, trying to pull away from the halfblood.

Severus, fed up with the whole dumb fucking charade, looks up at him with a scowl on his face, "I know you're a Death Eater! I saw you, a week ago in Knockturn Alley with some shady sod doing shady business with him!"

Thomas' face shifts from confusion to recognition, "Ah, you saw that…"

"Yes 'I saw that'! Now tell me the bloody truth or so help me God I will blast you off into the cold night sky!" Severus threatens, whipping his wand out and pointing it at the pureblood.

“I’m not a Dea–” Thomas cuts himself off, watching Severus raise his wand threateningly, “You are being extremely irrational right now, Severus.” he says, opting to not use one of those dreadful pet names. The halfblood doesn’t budge, standing his ground.

Thomas stares at him for a moment, his lips pursed in agitated thought. 

The pureblood lets out a weary sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose, “Very well,” he levitates his briefcase, opening it up and taking out a photograph. He hands it to Severus who reluctantly takes it. There’s a yellowish image of an angular golden ring and a diamond shaped black stone. Despite the image’s clarity, Severus could barely make out that something was carved on the stone. “I hired an underground thief to steal back my family heirloom.” Thomas explains, “It was stolen from me 2 years ago in Glasgow by the DMLE. And it’s only been returned to me recently. As you witnessed it.” 

Severus furrows his brows, looking up at Thomas, “Why the secrecy? And all for a ring? Merlin, it looked like you were dealing drugs with Death Eaters!”

Thomas chuckles darkly, “I needed the discretion because of the extremely dark curses on the ring. Somewhere down my ancestry, someone was paranoid of having this ring stolen. They placed several highly forbidden dark magic, rendering it unwearable and extremely illegal to own. Naturally, the ministry confiscated it. And they did not have the right to.” Thomas growls, “I swore to them a thousand times that I had the money to hire top curse breakers, that it was unnecessary for them to take it from me. Did they listen? No, they never do, so they took it from me and I had to hire a thief to retrieve it from the DMLE who hired a messenger who hired another messenger to have it returned to me.” the pureblood sighs, combing his hand through his hair. 

Severus stands there completely dumbfounded by the outrageous story he’s been told. A ministry confiscated dark artifact is indirectly stolen by Thomas, and he just openly admitted that to his face. What did this have to do with him being a Death Eater? What the fuck? “That’s still a crime, you know? Why are you telling me all this?”

"Because, as illegal as what I did is. I am not a Death Eater.” 

“And I’m supposed to believe you just like that?” Severus rebuts, still unconvinced of Thomas’ innocence. 

Thomas fiddles with his briefcase once more, taking out the box Severus saw a week ago. He whispers something Severus couldn’t understand, sounding like he is hissing. Whatever it is he said seems to unlock the box as it opens up slowly. Severus feels his goose pimples double at the sudden release of dark magic. Even without any physical manifestation of danger, it nearly triggers his fight or flight instincts. He flinches at the power.

“I warn you, darling, do not touch the ring itself. I haven’t had the chance to have it looked at. So I am unsure of what it might do.” Thomas tells him wearily, “But here is the ring I speak of.” He turns the box around, letting Severus take a look.

Lo and behold, the wretched ring is indeed in what seems to be a curse binding box. To the naked eye it looks unassuming, a family heirloom that costs more than Severus’ life savings twice over. But the halfblood can feel his magic reacting negatively towards the ring, humming below his skin begging to lash out. He lets out a shaky breath.

“This still doesn’t tell me if you’re a Death Eater or not.”

Thomas sighs, “You are too cautious for your own good.” Thomas backtracks, “I suppose being too cautious is good for your own good.”  He locks up the box once more and hides it away. Severus breathes in deeply, feeling the air around him lighten.

“What was it you were searching my sleeves for earlier? Is it linked to your suspicion of me?” Thomas asks as he gestures to his wrinkled sleeves. Severus groans in agitation.

“I’ve been told by my sources that Death Eaters, potentially you, have identifiers. A tattoo of sorts.” Severus discloses, “It’s said to be on the left arm.”

“Well, have a look then.” Thomas lifts his arms, pulling back the sleeves to reveal his bare arms, “Confirm or deny your suspicions.”

Severus gazes at him distrustfully, before pointing his wand at his left arm.

“ Finite Incantatem ” he casts on both arms, trying to remove any disillusion spells to no success.

“ Revelio ” He tries next, to no success.

“ Surgito ” No success.

Severus tries two more spells, clutching at straws. There really is nothing there. Not a single ink in sight. He sighs in defeat, hanging his head to stare at the pavement. There is movement from his peripherals before Thomas' hand moves under his chin, making him look up at him. Into his maroon eyes.

“I swear to you, darling. I swear on my magic," Thomas invokes solemnly, "I am not one of Voldemort’s followers." 

Severus gazes into his eyes intently, trying to decipher if he really is being honest with him despite the heavy weight of the magical vow settling around them.

Then again, Thomas was always unapologetically straightforward with him. Even if he doesn’t always share things about himself, the pureblood willingly shares his criminal endeavor to take back what's his for the sake of his peace of mind. With that thought, the halfblood gives a slow reluctant nod at first. Then as the thought finally embeds itself within him, he nods more confidently.

"Alright." Severus says.

“Alright?” Thomas asks.

“Alright.” Severus confirms.

Thomas holds Severus' hands in his own hands, “Darling, you’re freezing.” he mumbles, cupping them in attempts to warm the halfblood's icy fingertips. He rubs his thumbs over them before bringing them up to his lips and blowing hot air on them.

Severus could only stand there and watch, the blush he's already sporting from the early morning chill doubling from the fluttery feeling in his gut as he watches the pureblood put so much care in keeping his hands warm. The sun is barely peeking from beyond the trees now, casting a soft orange glow on Thomas’ face, making him look younger and softer. Unlike the middle aged businessman he seems to be.

Debunking his and Lily’s theory of Thomas’ involvement with the Death Eaters seems to help Severus feel a weight lift off his shoulders. He hadn’t realized just how much it would bother him, having to attack Thomas and jail him. He wouldn’t admit it, not when so much has been said right now, but he didn’t want to send Thomas away. As annoying as he is, his company is really growing on him.

Chapter Text

“I still do not appreciate that spider trick you pulled on me.”

“I said sorry, didn’t I?” Exactly five times in three days, in fact. He will not be getting anymore. 

It’s currently the 6th of November, almost a week after Severus’ janky investigation. Lily felt a whole lot of relief upon finding out Thomas’ innocence to the war, easily going back to teasing Severus about the man; much to his irritation. 

“I forgive you, darling.” Thomas says, “Only because you were vigilant about your safety against potential danger.”

“Albeit recklessly.” Thomas adds, raising a judgmental eyebrow at him.

Severus groans, “I know, I know. Had I the time-” and more Slytherin peers around me- “I might have been able to plan a smoother investigation.”

“I believe you, dear.” Thomas says in a tone that suggests that he doesn’t believe him, “Let’s toast to your safety.”

“Weird, but okay.” Severus clinks the glass of wine he’s been nursing the entire evening, before taking a sip.

He tenses as a creeping sense of dread washes over him suddenly, to which he sighs heavily in attempts to regulate the feeling. What is up with this feeling anyway? He’s been feeling it all week. Don’t get him wrong, it doesn’t feel like he’s in any danger. It just feels heavy, like a sneaking stare.

“Are you okay, darling?” asks Thomas, “You’ve gotten pale all of a sudden.” he informs, bringing his hand to Severus’ forehead, as if to check if he’s got a fever.

Severus lightly smacks his hand away while shaking his head, “I’m fine. Just feeling a bit tense, I guess.” he says. 

“Any particular reason why?” Thomas asks.

The halfblood pouts in thought, trying to think of a believable reason, “It’s nothing–just the dinner party I’m to attend tomorrow.” 

The rich man frowns, looking like he doesn’t believe him. He accepts the explanation either way, much to Severus’ relief.

They go through the course of the evening, a routine at this point. Talk, flirtation from Thomas, rejection and sass from Severus, drink, talk some more; rinse and repeat. The feeling of dread does not leave Severus until only a few hours into the conversation.

—

Severus stares into his closet with a feeling of dread coursing through him. Ever since that confrontation with Thomas a week ago, he’s been feeling a bit tense; like something is about to happen. Like something is about to change drastically. Sure, Thomas clarified somethings, proved himself to be not evil and all that–but–

The feeling of something’s about to happen refuses to leave the halfblood’s gut. It doesn’t help that he feels watched; exposed almost. To what, Severus doesn’t know.

“Severus, come on! We’re going to be late.” Alicia bellows from the living room, interrupting Severus’ nervous brooding. 

“Give me a moment, damn woman!” he yells back, cursing as he finally sifts through his closet for a comfortable sweater. Lily made a rather insistent suggestion that he wear something fancy like a button up shirt but Severus only has one of those and he isn’t using it on some house party. Not when that's the type of fabric to require dry cleaning. That service is quite pricey. 

So sweater it is.

He wears it over his vest, flattening out any wrinkles in place. He looks at his reflection on the built-in mirror on the closet, a dark material catching his eye in the background. Severus turns to look at it.

Thomas’ overcoat.

His mind goes back to last week where he spent his Saturday morning drinking coffee with Thomas in a strange sort of comfortable silence, all the energy they had for conversation having been depleted from the night before– cough and the confrontation just a few hours prior cough– And when they said their farewells, with one too many flirtatious quips from Thomas, and headed off their separate ways Severus would only remember that he still had the rich man’s coat when he’d crashed on his ratty bed with it.

And he’s yet to return it. 

He promises he will, though! He just keeps forgetting and with everything going on in his life, giving it back is the last thing on his mind. Severus smiles wearily as he runs his fingers through the soft fabric, admitting that that isn't really true. The real reason why he hasn’t returned it is in the most hidden part of his mind.

It being…it’s just too comfy!

To Severus it’s such a perfect coat to wear whenever he’s just at home. Be it lounging around in the living room to watch Alicia attempt to fix their rotten telly or holing up in his room to further his potion theories, the coat was an amazing companion to him. More so now that autumn is at the cusp of giving way to winter. Not to mention the earthy mint scent still prominent on it. Refreshing against the smell of pollution perpetually wafting through his shitty Knockturn Alley flat. Severus suspects that Thomas must be using a magically long lasting cologne. 

“ Severus! ” Alicia calls out again, her voice bordering a shriek-y tone. 

“I’m coming!” Severus shrieks back in irritation, glancing one last time at Thomas' coat before striding out. The dread in his gut receded for now.

The coat doesn’t change anything about his disdain for the pureblood, though (Maybe it does). It just adds more points to the mental tally board in Severus’ mind. The pros and cons of having to deal with the twat.

Severus scoffs at Alicia, who is placing a wooden figurine of a lion in a gift bag, “What the hell is that for?”

Alicia barely spares him a glance, “About time you wrapped up your brooding session.” she scoffs before adding, “This is a gift, obviously. I can’t just appear empty handed. I am meeting your best friend for the first time, after all”

Right, the dinner party. The one Lily insistently invited him and Alicia too. He supposes it's a long time coming. Lily constantly makes jealous remarks here and there over the attention he apparently gives to his roommate. Despite his broken record statement of ‘ No, Lily. I am not replacing you. I need a roommate because I am so pathetically broke, she just so happens to be a roommate that will not kill me in my sleep. ’ she always just seems to think that he is.

So yes this would be the first time Alicia meets Lily, Harry and the Marauders. He isn’t nervous about it, per say. He knows with his whole chest that Alicia and Lily would get along perfectly and Harry’s young enough that he would hop into anyone’s arms willingly. It's the Marauders he’s worried about. He isn’t sure about Lupin and Potter, Severus admits, they might be able to hold a decent enough conversation between them. Black though. Severus has known since school that anyone associated with him is immediately ‘evil’ in the pureblood’s book. Sans Lily, but the reasons are obvious.

Oh well, it’s not like he cares about what the hell Black would think of Alicia. And whatever Alicia thinks of Black he’d probably wholeheartedly agree with.

“You’ll be fine. Lily will probably pull you aside and gossip about me. In front of my face, might I add.” he says, putting on his boots.

Alicia hums, adding the ribbon as a finishing touch, “We’ll just have to see.” 

She turns to him, “You ready?”

He nods, offering his arm up for her to grab. Alicia does, and with that they apparate to the Potter residence.

Alicia whistles at the lively neighborhood, “I’d sell you to the black market for a house in a neighborhood like this.” 

He gives her a flat look, “Wow.” 

She cackles, letting herself be led towards the front door.

Severus knocks on the door, “Please behave yourself, Alicia.”

Alicia scoffs, “You say that like I’m a nuisance. I’m the one who keeps your ass in line all the time.”

“That is not true. You are so full of shit.”

“Am I really, Severus? Am I really?” 

“Yes, really!”

“Oh yeah, prove me wrong. When have I not kept your ass in line. When have I not–”

“There’s this one time–”

“--shut up, Sev. When have I not–”

“--No, you shut up–”

They’re interrupted by the sound of the front door unlocking, slapping each other on the arm in an attempt to shut the other one up. They straighten up, as a Potter and his messy mop of hair comes into view.

Potter grins, “Severus! Just in time, everyone’s here.” he looks over at the Asian, “And you must be Alicia Jeika, I’m James Potter.” He opens the door wider to let them in, holding his hand out to Alicia.

“Nice to meet you too. Just call me Alicia.” She takes his hand and gives him a friendly handshake.

“James, then.” he replies back.

Severus rolls his eyes at the pleasantries, although he finds himself inwardly sighing in relief at the cordial greeting. 

They are led to the living room where Lupin and Black are playing with Harry on the ground. 

“Boys, Sev’s here.” Potter announces, much to Severus’ chagrin.

“Don’t call me Sev.” He says, just in time for Lily to hop thunder down the stairs.

“Sevvy!” She gives him a massive hug, “And Alicia, right?” she asks, still hugging Severus.

“Yup. Pleasure to meet you.” Alicia greets, a small smirk on her face.

Severus pats Lily on the back, giving his roommate a glare, “Stop pulling that face, Alicia. She is literally married.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” she says passively, handing Lily the gift, “I got you guys a little gift. A simple thank you for the dinner invite.” 

Lily grins as she peaks inside, letting go of Severus, “James will love this. Thank you.” she ambles towards Harry, showing the baby the wooden lion they’ve been gifted. Alicia shoots Severus a smug look which he rolls his eyes to. 

Potter hands Alicia and Severus a bottle of beer, unaware of the subtle grimace the Asian gives to the drink. 

They barely take a few steps into the living room when Black decides it’s the perfect time to block their damn way with a facepalming werewolf right behind him.

“So, are you one of Sniv’s dark friends?” Black haughtily smirks at Alicia, immediately trying to fuck with Severus. Lupin and Severus share a tired look.

Alicia just stares at him, “What?”

“You know, dark wizard and their hatred for muggles and love for their Dark lord,” Black explains, then puts his hand towards his mouth as though telling her a secret, “ Fair warning, little Sniv here pops a boner for Dark magic.”

“You are one strange white boy.” says Alicia, who turns to look at her roommate, “You’re friends with this poor sod?”

Severus gags, “As if! He’s too much of a tyrannical idiot for me to bother to befriend.”

“Oi, I don’t take kindly to being insulted like I’m not here,” Black harrumphs, “What was your House anyway? I don’t recognize you from school.”

Alicia sighs, “That’s because I never went to Hogwarts. I’m a squib.” 

“Oh.” Black oh-so-charismatically says.

“Mhm. So I’m literally the last person who would associate with any wizardly Dark lord.” she replies, taking a large gulp of her beer. She cringes at the taste, glaring at the liquid, “You guys don't happen to have wine around here, do you? Beer tastes like trash.”

“Yeah, right this way.” Lupin butts in, leading her into the kitchen, “I’m sorry about him, he’s a bit of a dumbass, you see. I’m Remus, by the way.”

As Lupin leads Alicia away, Severus cannot help but lean towards Black, “Next time, try to be a bit more socially sensitive, yeah?” he berates amusingly, “You just implied she's a racist, after all. To her kind no less.”

Black splutters, “Well–I didn’t mean it like that.” he attempts to backtrack.

“Uhuh, sure.” Severus walks off towards the dining room, Black following him still trying to explain himself.

—

Severus freezes mid bite, feeling the dread he’d been feeling for the past week come back suddenly once again. The feeling of being watched accompanying it. He glances towards the other people in the dining room, all in pleasant and enthusiastic conversation. He straightens up, trying to sigh out without attracting their attention. 

He looks to the window to his right. Watching intently if someone is actually outside the Potter residence spying on any of them. There’s no one there.

“Severus?” Lily calls out.

“Yes?” he hums back, snapping his attention towards Lily who is looking at him in curiosity.

“We were just asking if you knew a place that sells cheaper stationary items.” Lupin asks, “I’ve been needing a few things. Amanuensis Quills were much more expensive than I remember back in school.” 

Severus pushes the queasy feeling in him away, welcoming the distraction of conversation, “Well, there’s 2 in our area.” he says, pointing his finger between him and Alicia who is sitting beside him, “Although we prefer the other one. Uh…what was it called again? The place where we get our charmed origami messengers?” Severus asks Alicia, snapping his fingers in hopes to remember the store’s name.

“Stanley’s Station of Stationary.” Alicia inputs.

“Yes, that one. Compared to the other one it’s pricier, but not as much as Amanuensis’” Severus explains.

Alicia takes over, giving them the specific address within Knockturn Alley. Lupin nods along, taking in the information.

The conversation weaves into the topic of Knockturn Alley's hole in the wall stores, which Severus doesn’t join in as much, only adding input that Alicia misses. He realizes that the dread he pushed aside is no longer there. As if he never felt it in the first place. He watches the other people around the table eating without a care in the world. A glance towards Potter and Black shows that they are the most boisterous of the group.

If both Aurors don't sense any danger, then surely it's all in his head? Damn, it still does not add up, though. A week into this heavy feeling of being watched and something inevitable about to happen. It has to mean something, not that Severus believes in the hocus pocus of divination.

He catches Lily’s questioning eyes, “What’s wrong?” she mouths.

Severus smiles at her, he really can’t hide anything from her, “It’s nothing, just a weird feeling” he mouths back.

Lily, although unsure, nods, “If you say so.”

Alicia’s cackling snaps them out of their quiet conversation. Which Severus rolls his eyes to, “Must you be so barbaric, woman?” he sasses.

Alicia just waves him off, “You’re used to it, loser.”

“Speaking of losers–” starts Severus, a thought suddenly in his mind “Where’s Pettigrew by the way? Is he even still in your lives anymore?” Severus asks.

The table erupts with offended ‘Oi!s’, as 3/4th of the Marauders come into their friend’s defense. Lily just laughs it off, silently agreeing that Peter Pettigrew is prone to loserism.

“We still keep in touch,” Lily starts, a hand on Potter’s arm in a lazy attempt of calming him down, “Although he’s been really busy apparently, he wouldn’t tell me why. He wouldn’t even tell the boys why. It’s a surprise, he claims.” 

“I see, maybe he’s finally realized how garbage his friends are. Black most especially.” Severus says jokingly, even though he totally means it. Potter and Lupin laughs it off, knowing that anything Severus says is water off a duck's back at this point. Black, not so much.

“What the hell’s that supposed to mean?!” Black bellows, abruptly standing.

“Do I really have to spell it out?” Severus asks pettily, slowly rising from his seat as well.

Lily and Potter groan, “And I suppose that ends the eating portion of our night.” the tall brunette jokingly sighs.

The rest of the group follow the fighting duo’s lead in standing up, moving towards the entrance of the kitchen. For easier access to the booze and to watch the scene unfold in amusement.

“Sit back and relax, Alicia. You’re about to watch a Potter residence rerun.” Lily jokes, pouring wine into the squib’s empty glass.

Alicia snorts, “A rerun you say? I suppose Severus did warn me that he quote-unquote dislikes Sirius Black.”  

“I was going to say that that’s an understatement, but the way you said dislike makes me think it's rather fitting instead.” Lupin pipes up from behind her. 

“I agree,” Potter says simply, focusing on the argument in front of them, “Oops, we forgot Harry, love.” he tells Lily, pointing towards the baby still on the high chair, who is staring with baby-curious wide eyes at the duo.

Lily giggles, “He’ll be fine, they won’t hurt him.”

The four spectators cease their conversation, opting to focus on the show. (Alicia would later joke that it feels like one of those dramatic Telenovelas she watches. The bitch.)

“You mean like that time you almost got me killed and made a murderer out of Lupin?” Severus harrumphs, his back towards the pureblood twat.

“I said sorry, didn't I?!” Black crosses his arms, “If it weren’t for your stalker nose, we wouldn’t have been in that situation in the first place!”

Severus rounded up to glare at Black, “Hm? You want to talk about stalkers now? I think I can fill up an entire shelf of pensieves from the amount of times you’ve followed me around, alone! Don’t forget that I know about that stupid map now! What’s it like knowing you spent all 7 years in Hogwarts sniffing out my name on that crusty piece of parchment?”

Black scoffs, uncrossing his arms to place a hand on his chest dramatically. “Me sniffing you out? Why, with that big nose of yours it seems like you're doing all the sniffing!” 

“Oh look, another nose joke in less than a minute, how creative of you. Let me guess, you’ll start barking about my ‘greasy’ hair too? Hah, how original, Black.”

As the two bicker, Alicia turns to look at the others, “Were they ever in a relationship? Like, did they go through a messy breakup or something?” 

Potter cackles, “Sirius and Severus? Oh Merlin, as if. No, they’ve been at each other’s throats since we were 11 years old.”

Alicia hums, looking back at the arguing duo, “Hm, I don’t know. There seems to be…tension there.” The Asian turns again, a smirk on her face, “I read eroticas, I can see what’s behind all that tension from a mile away”

Lupin, who was sipping at his beer, chokes, accidentally inhaling the booze. Potter stares horrified at the woman, slapping at Lupin’s back. Lily, on the other hand, has a look of contemplation on her face.

“You know what?” Lily watches her son giggle loudly at Sirius and Severus, both of which were almost only inches apart. “I can see it. And thinking about it now, I should have seen it.”

“Lily!” Potter scolds.

“What?! Look for yourself!” She juts her chin towards the arguing duo. Potter does look over, watching their body language with Auror trained eyes.

“You know, I hate that you’re right.” Potter cringes, “Though, I hate to be the one who accidentally brings this up to them.” 

Remus, upon recovering from his near choke experience, says, “This is to never reach their ears, for the love of all things light.” 

“Agreed.” They all say solemnly, except for Alicia, who just smirks into her wine.

—

The Autumn winds bellow at an irritated pace, the British rains accompanying its moody attitude. It makes Severus wrap his shitty jacket tighter around him upon apparating to the edge of the property’s anti-apparition wards, making him wish for nothing more than to use Thomas’ coat in public. He had to force himself out of the idea an hour ago, telling himself that it will definitely smell used when he returns it.

If he returns it, he cheekily thinks to himself.

The massive ornate gates in front of him open with a whoosh, the magic of the manor welcoming his familiar magical signature. 

Severus discreetly and briskly walks on the lavish pathway, counting his steps in his mind to ease the tension he is feeling. He is nervously glancing at the meandering peacocks just a few meters away from him. His brother reassured him a few days prior that this day is the safest day for them to meet, not a single Death Eater to be seen within a hundred kilometers in every direction. It doesn’t take away the feeling that someone is definitely watching. It's the same feeling as what he has been feeling the previous week.

He sighs in relief when he makes it to the pretentious Manor entrance. The doors open just as he makes it toward the steps, a familiar head of platinum blond appearing.

Despite his reassurance, Lucius takes a furtive glance around, in case anyone is watching, “Come on in, Severus.”

The halfblood hurries inside, automatically walking towards the Manor’s most hidden and private sitting room. He hears the other man following behind him. 

When they reach their destination they stare at each other in silence. Both of their eyes are roaming one another for any changes; a haircut or new jewelry at first, bruises and wounds after.

Satisfied with what he sees, Lucius gives him a bear hug which he returns with just as much enthusiasm. 

“Damn it, I’ve missed you dear brother.” Lucius says into his hair.

“I’ve missed you too, you old sap.” Severus retorts despite being a sap himself.

Chapter Text

Lucius sits them down on the comfortable worn out couch. Severus sighs at the feeling of it, rubbing his hands through the cotton fabric. He looks around the room with a content smile on his face. This sitting room holds most of the Malfoys’ personal memorabilia. Pictures of Lucius and Narcissa laughing and relaxed, as opposed to their aristocratic portraits littering the more open areas of the manor. Draco’s toys in the far corner, scattered and   Not a lot of people are ever allowed in this side of the Malfoy manor. The privilege was reserved only to the Malfoys and him; family. 

He remembers the first time he first visited the manor, back in 5th year.

Severus’ worst school year.

—

Severus quickly hopped off the train, his back aching from its hunching position as he tried to remain as invisible as he could. An icy-hot feeling coursed from the pit of his guts to the tips of his fingers, the forefront of his brain screaming at him that everyone’s watching him. The spring breeze billows through his loose worn out sweater, forcing his mind back to the state of helplessness he felt no less than a month ago. Forcing him back to the laughs of a hundred students surrounding him with a child-like maliciousness. The feeling of his clothes forcibly slipped off his person. The tears that he couldn’t quite hold back, gliding up his forehead. The anger and hurt in green green eyes, the piling feeling of dread, shame, anger, humiliation, fear, vulnerability. He hates hates HATES it. 

He takes a quick look around himself. He’s back on King’s Cross. No one is watching him.

A shuddering sigh leaves his lips, trying to shake off the memory. It’s hard, being so fresh in his mind. 

He hurried off, uncaring of the way his hand-me-down school trunk creaked and thunk'd on the uneven walkway of the station platform. As he walked towards the exit in a haste, he looked around for the familiar and comforting head of hair among the sea of students. 

“Severus?” A voice called out.

Severus turns around, relief spreading through him at the sight of the newly appointed head of the Malfoy bloodline. He will never admit it but he ran towards the blond man, and nearly crashed into him.

“Woah, Severus. Calm down, my friend.” Lucius says slowly, his hands holding onto his arms to keep him upright. He pulls them into a secluded corner of the station, “How have you been?”

A bitchy lift of the eyebrow answers his question.

“Right.” he replies, pursing his lips.

A particularly rowdy laugh had Severus flinching, subconsciously leaning further into Lucius, who merely sighs in concern.

“Come let's get you home.” Lucius led him out of King’s Cross station in silence. The pureblood purposefully chose to go through a less crowded walkway, which Severus is more than thankful for. When they reached the apparition points, Lucius beckoned the halfblood to grab onto his arm. 

Severus did so with hesitation, he’d never experienced apparition before. He’d only read about the theory behind it, and how it works. He also read about the dangers of it. The thought of accidentally leaving behind his spleen made him queasy.

Lucius saw this, giving him a reassuring scoff, “I’ll have you know I passed my apparition test with flying colors, You won’t lose a thing.” He counted them down to three, if only for the sake of Severus.

The halfblood braced himself, but nothing prepared him for the warping of his vision. The feeling of his body literally swirling into a needle sized hole at lightning speed. It almost feels like that looping roller coaster he and Lily rode on when the Evans invited him to an amusement park back when they were 10.

Fuck, there he goes thinking about Lily again.

He doubles over on the grass, dry heaving and near to tears. At the apparition and the thought of Lily. Fucking damn it all.

“Oops.” Lucius says lamely from above him. He couldn’t even bring himself to bite out an insult.

He takes a moment to take a breather and shake off the nauseating feeling in his gut. A flurry of blue enters his peripherals, making him look to his left. Only to come face to face with black beady eyes.

"What the fuck is that." he says more than asks, the emotions he was feeling a moment ago shoved back at what's in front of him.

"It's a peacock, Severus, you didn't know?" Lucius asks, genuinely confused, "I remember for sure that this species is in the muggle communities as well." 

"I bloody know what a peacock is! I mean, what the fuck is it doing here?!" Here as in galivanting in the manor's open fields. Here as in right in front of him, looking at him with judgment in its fucking eyes.

"Why, they're my pets, of course." Lucius announces proudly, a hand to his chest. "My first decree as Lord Malfoy."

Before Severus could even retort, Lucius pulls him up and towards the manor, “My next decree as Lord Malfoy is to take you to the family sitting room.” he exclaims, going on about Severus finally accepting his invite and how he’s got a bedroom ready for him.

Now what the hell does that mean?

—

It turns out the family sitting room is this. One out of ten sitting rooms, at the most hidden corner of the manor. Severus remembers not thinking much of it, assuming that Lucius did this for everyone. It wasn’t until Lucius spelled out his intention of essentially adopting him into the family did he understand. The howler will forever be fresh in his mind. 

His trip to the past is interrupted by a pop, his favorite house elf dropping off their snacks and drinks.

“Good day, young master!” says Scrunkly, a big smile on her face, “What may you’s like?”

He surveys the tray, smiling as he does when he sees that she’s brought all his favorite snacks, “This should be fine, Scrunkly. You perfected the tray like usual.”

She chirps happily at the praise, gripping the bottom of her pristine pillowcase dress bashfully. 

“Thank you, Scrunkly. You may leave.” Lucius says politely. 

She bows at that and leaves with a pop. 

Severus chuckles as he grabs a dark chocolate fudge cube, popping it onto his mouth with a delighted hum. Lucius scoffs, pouring himself tea.

“You need to stop being nice to my house elves, Severus.” tuts Lucius, adding milk and sugar to his teacup, “They already favor you enough as it is.”

The halfblood laughs at that, adjusting his own tea to his own liking, “You know I can’t help it, Lucius. Common decency and all that. Besides, house elves are lovely when you don’t go around smacking the ever loving shit out of them.” he gives the blonde a very pointed look.

Lucius grunts, sipping his tea, “You got me there.” The blond changes the subject, “So how are things with you? I hope none of my…associates gave you any trouble the past months?”

Severus sighs, leaning further into the seat, “Luckily no. They aren’t as sneaky as they wish they were. I could sense them several meters away easily.” He adds, “It doesn’t make it less…frightening as it is, to be honest.”

Lucius scoffs at that, “And they call themselves Slytherin alumnus. At least you’re able to exercise our house traits; vigilant and quick on our feet, for the most part.”

“Yes, well, if you’re like me you would want to forget about your school years.”

“If I were like you, I’d move away.” Lucius retorts, “To Beauxbatons or even Durmstrang. Were I really desperate I’d go to Ilvenmory.” he scrunches his face up in disgust, “Even if it’s full of yanks.” 

“We can’t all be filthy rich aristocrats, you tosser.” Severus rolls his eyes.

Lucius waves him off, “Neither here nor there.” he changes the subject, “How’s your little muggleborn pet? Still as ugly as ever, is she?”

Severus groans at that, “How many times do I have to say this? Just because she’s ginger it doesn’t mean she’s ugly, you albino pollock.” 

“And how many times do I have to tell you that I beg to differ. You’ve clearly never met a… Weasley .” Lucius spits out the name like a bad meal.

Severus purses his lips, unwilling to say that he did, in fact, encountered a Weasley before. In the Order, Arthur Weasley and Molly Weasley with all five of their children actually. Lucius would keep him hidden away were he to find out that Severus is involved with the Order and the Weasleys.

“There’s nothing wrong with being a ginger,” Severus says instead, “And Lily is doing fine, thank you very much. She’s back to working on her mastery full time.”

Lucius hums, “...Good for her, I guess.”

“Just say you’re happy for her, Lucius.” 

“As if! I’m simply glad that my competition is back in the game.” Lucius scoffs.

“Competi–” Severus cuts himself off, “-you know what? I’d rather not know.” 

Lucius laughs at him.

They stay silent for a moment, enjoying their tea and snacks after that. Just taking in one another’s company, like they’ve always done for years. Relaxing in each other's presence, back when the war was at the back of their childish minds. He just wished the frequency didn’t lessen as it did.

A part of him wishes, in a dark tiny corner of his mind, that he followed through with his plans to join the Death Eaters. If only for Lucius. Looking at him now, he looks exhausted and world-weary like he’d aged a decade in a span of months. His usually immaculate posture is a slouch now, like he’s tired of keeping himself upright. Severus understands, though, that he’s made the right decision keeping himself away from the Dark Lord’s clutches, but it hurts seeing Lucius this way, without him being able to help in the slightest.

“How are you feeling?” Severus asks after a moment of watching his friend, “No Lord-ly answer.”

Lucius chuckles, “As a Lord, I’m inclined to say that I am doing well, thank you for asking. But as Lucius…” the pureblood sighs heavily, “I’m tired, in pain, and…” he trails off, hesitant to voice out his thoughts. As though he fears that someone may hear.

“Lucius?” 

“Fuck…do you ever want to go back in time? Just be a dumb child and do dumb child things.” Lucius starts, “Pretend the war wasn’t right outside your doorstep? I don’t know about you but I miss that ignorance.”

Severus turns to him, tucking his legs under him, “What are you saying…?”

The pureblood stares down at his hands, clenching and unclenching them, “I will admit, Severus. I fear for my life; my family’s life. Everyday feels like the last, my reputation alone is on a tightrope in the ministry.” Lucius chuckles hollowly, “ I’m starting to doubt if joining the Dark Lord was the way to go.” He says, bone-deep exhaustion seeps heavily into his posture. 

Severus sits straight up as his eyes widen in hope, before the feeling of fear catches up rapidly, “No, no, no, no. Don’t say that.” he says frantically, “That can get you killed!”

“You think I don’t know that?!” Lucius growls out in frustration, rubbing his palms all over his face, “I could care less at this moment. As a matter of fact it feels good to say that out in the open.”

Severus shakes his head, “No, no, Lucius. Not when you’re already shoulder deep into this. There’s too much at stake for you to think like that.” he says, “I’m not saying you deserve it, but you knew what you were getting into, joining a group as unhinged as this.”

“It was never meant to be violent.” Lucius mumbles.

“Oh sod off.”

“It started out diplomatic, believe me! We were meant to take a political route, he appointed me as his strategist in order to at least gain attention in the Ministry.” Lucius explains, “But something happened 4 years ago. In this very Manor.”

Lucius blows a breath, “He’s always been…unbalanced,” he points at his head, “But he was always calm, soft spoken, but passionate for the cause. Something happened…”

Severus feels the hair on his arms bristle at the far away look Lucius is wearing, “What happened, Lucius?”

He shakes his head, “I don’t know. I felt his magic lash out through the halls and all the way to my bedroom, I remember him screaming, it was almost feral like he wasn’t human anymore.” he shivers, “Whatever happened was only witnessed by my father, and he definitely took that to his grave.”

“After that, though, he’s shifted our cause’s priorities, curbed our course of action; much to Bellatrix’s delight.” he scoffs at the thought of his sister-in-law, “It’s been nothing but violence and pain and fear ever since.”

Severus sits back in shock. What the fuck is going on and why is Severus in the know? They stare at one another, Lucius with a grim smile on his face and himself with his mouth slightly gaping.

“What now?” Severus shakes his head, “No, I know. Do not do anything.”

“Severus…”

“No, Lucius! Do you know how big of a target you’ll place on yourself, on your family, if you defect? There’s too. much. at. stake.” Severus jumps off the couch to pace, running his fingers through his hair. “Promise me you won’t do anything rash, Lucius.”

Lucius stares at him for a moment before closing his eyes in defeat, “Very well.” he clears his throat, “I am still loyal to the cause. In fact I am in love with the Dark Lord.”

That startles a laugh out of Severus, “Huh?”

Lucius chuckles, “I’m joking.” 

Severus rolls his eyes, the tension leaving his body, “Asshole.”

Just then a noise comes from far away, on the other side of the manor, a crackling as though someone lit a fire.

“ Lord Malfoy? ” A deep melodic voice echoes throughout the manor. It sounds warbled, like the halls of the too-empty home of Lucius distorted it to a degree that it sounds ghostly or inhumane…dangerous even. Severus feels a chill crawl up his spine at the lilt of insanity in the voice.

“Fuck, the Dark Lord is here.” Lucius says in a quiet panic.

“What?!” Severus whisper-shouts, fighting off the reflex of peaking out into the hallway.

Lucius rushes towards the bookshelves at the far end of the sitting room, looking for something. Severus tiptoes to him, “God damnit, Lucius! You told me there won’t be Death Eaters today!” 

The pureblood barely glances at him, still looking through the shelves rapidly, “I’m sorry, Severus. I was told no one would be coming today,” He makes a little triumphant ‘Aha’ tapping his wand onto an ornately tiny book. The shelf silently slides forward, making Severus take a step back in surprise. With a hiss, the bookshelf slides to the left, revealing a dimly lit passage. "Should have known the Dark Lord was an exemption."

“ Lord Malfoy, I really do need to talk to you.” The Dark Lord says, a hint of irritation in his voice.

Lucius closes his eyes in dread, sighing out harshly, “Take this passage and head to the first turn to the right, Severus. The first .” Lucius commands adamantly, lightly pushing the halfblood into the secret passage.

“What about you? Will you be alright?” Severus asks in concern, hands tightly wound around his satchel.

“I’ll be fine, I live here, remember? He can’t hurt me here,” Lucius smiles a weary smile that makes Severus extremely uneasy, that tells him that he might be lying. Before he could call him out, though, his brother gives him a tight hug which he immediately reciprocates, “I’ll make it up to you next time, I swear it.” He releases Severus and steps back, allowing the bookshelf to slide back into place.

Severus stands there, staring at Lucius’ face trying to mask his fear until finally the bookshelf blocks his view.

Chapter Text

Severus whimpers to himself as he looks back to where he last stood, the wooden bookcase door. He’d tried to eavesdrop a minute prior but it seems to be near impossible to, and he did not want to risk using a spell to eavesdrop against ancient wards.

He turns back forward, gaping at the sight, “You told me to take the first turn to the right-" He grunts as he squeezes through the narrow tunnel, "But you didn't tell me about the OTHER turns to take, Lucius!"

As it is, there's three more turns; 2 on the right and 1 on the left and Severus does not know which way to take. Knowing old pureblood manors like this one, taking the wrong one might lead to certain doom or whatever bullshit purebloods do in their ancient old paranoia.

“God fucking damn it, it’s just my luck that I would have a near death experience today.” He grumbles in an attempt to distract himself from the ice cold fear that’s coursing through his veins. 

Oh hell, Lucius. I hope you’re doing alright .

He takes a peak at all three hallways, torches lighting up each path but none pointing to a safe direction; it’s probably an illusion charm, Severus deduces, in hopes to confuse any trespassers.

"Fuck, fuck what do I do. Uh…Lucius, Narcissa…Aha!"

"Scrunkly!" He whispers harshly, hoping that the house elf could hear his call from his location. Even whispering it feels like his voice echoes endlessly through the tunnels loudly, “Scrunkly? Junjun? Dobbie!?” he calls out some more, though none comes to his aid.

He lets out a string of curses, barely controlling himself from stomping his foot like a child, “Lucius, I’m going to kill you after this.” 

Severus takes a moment to think. Okay, Lucius said first turn to the right. And now there are 2 more right turns. Does that mean he should keep taking the first turn to the right?

What other options does he have?

With a weary sigh and a deep scowl, he stalks his way into the right hallway, praying to God that he won’t die in doing so. 

This time it leads him to–

“You’ve got to be bloody joking.”

The next room, at first glance, seems to be bare except for the wooden panel below. But upon closer inspection there is a door on the ceiling parallel to the wooden panel, which Severus reidentified as a door, below. Just his fucking luck, indeed.

“We keep going right,” he says resolutely, “...Which way is right?”

Severus tilts his head to the left, which makes the door on the floor the right turn. But when he cranes his neck to the right, the door on the ceiling becomes the right turn. He straightens his head, groaning as he did so. He steps further into the room, to inspect the doors. The door knobs attached are round making it impossible to tell which part of the door is potentially the right side up.

“Is this a puzzle of some sort?” he mumbles to himself, glancing around the room to check for any hints or objects that might help him figure out his way out of this room. Alas, there is nothing. Just the doors.

He could always go back and check the other hallways, but something in his gut tells him that this is the safest room out of all three passageways. 

Severus brainstorms, pacing as he did so. It’s a 50/50 chance that he would either get out of this dumb maze or meet his horrible demise. There are only two choices after all, either jump down the door by his feet or…climb? Fly? Fucking jump into the door above him. 

So with the 50/50 chance he should try…uh…

Aw hell, he should try to tap into divination. Severus groans once again, he was always pants at divination; it was all hocus pocus, and that’s coming from a wizard.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. 

According to divination there is a sub ‘ability’ called clairvoyance. It’s something like a 6th sense (gut instinct?), or trusting a spirit to guide you to the right direction. 

Or something, hell if he knows.

Severus closes his eyes, rolls his shoulders and stretches both his hands forward, attempting to get a ‘feel of the room’. He turns his right hand so his right palm faces upwards, his left hand doing the opposite. The halfblood stands there silently, doing his best to concentrate. He thinks of the excerpt of the Mind Magicks book he read in his youth. Meditate and empty the mind of all things unnecessary. Focus only on the goal, the rest of you will follow. 

His mind eases away from the anxiety he feels for Lucius’ safety, away from the irritation he has over his current situation, away from the emotions at the back of his mind constantly taunting him on a daily basis. It’s all been pushed aside as his mind’s eye builds a version of this room, seeing it without having to open his eyes. Tentatively, he sees a pastel purple light flowing from his person and towards his finger tips, languidly like fabric dancing between his hands.

The purple light stretches away from his fingers, like a snake surveying an object out of curiosity. It flows to the door on the floor and dances around the doorknob as though it’s trying to twist it. Severus subconsciously drops his head down to ‘look’ at the glow. Does this mean that the floor door is the way out? 

Distracted as Severus is, he fails to notice the second branch of the purple glow climbing to the door on the ceiling. The moment the tendrils caress the doorknob a bolt of lightning travels through the purple glow and towards his person. He gasps as his body is thrown back to the floor, he grunts on impact.

That’s going to bruise tomorrow for sure.  

“Okay–” he sits up, wincing as he did, “--message received. I could have done without the lightning. Or all of that, really.” 

Severus crawls to the doors once again, sure this time that the door at the bottom should lead him safely out of this room. 

Out of this stupid maze hopefully.

He takes a big breath and, with his eyes closed tightly, grabs the doorknob with his hand. He braces for lightning, weary of his earlier experience. When he feels nothing, he relaxes and opens his eyes. 

He takes another deep breath and twists the doorknob. Slowly, he lifts the door open, he sees nothing but darkness upon first glance but taking a tentative closer look Severus could make out a line of light from afar. The line of light dances as the shadows flow in and out of it, much like drapes on a window. He further pushes the door open, the old wood banging on the stone floor as it did.

“Lights are a good sign.” he says, “or it could also be a metaphor of my death, who knows.” 

He surely doesn’t. 

He can’t wait to throttle Lucius for this.

Severus stands at the very edge of the door, trying not to sike himself out for what he has to do next, “Just jump, Severus, what’s the worst that could happen.”

He closes his eyes and, with a deep inhale that makes his lungs hurt, he jumps straight down. Severus goes between taking quick breaths and screaming as his insides go up to his throat at the drop. He can feel his heart trying to beat out of his chest, the adrenaline pumping through him like a quick-acting poison. 

Severus opens his watery eyes and sees himself approaching the light fast. He is suddenly hit with whiplash. From where he was falling vertically down, he is abruptly horizontal, racing towards the light. 

“Hu-Wha?!”

He is engulfed by light.

He grunts as he feels his back skidding against a solid plane, coming to an abrupt stop at the resistance. Severus lets out a hysterical little giggle as his hands feel at the floor he is lying on, glad he is back on solid ground. Slowly he opens his eyes. 

He is greeted by an elegantly decorated ceiling, to a lacy curtain softening the light being let into the room. He turns his head to the right and sees a bedside drawer that probably costs more than all of the furniture in his flat. He peeks at the framed photo of the Malfoys laughing together. Severus stretches his head back to look directly above him, his face contorting to one of confusion as he sees the darkness he came from…underneath a bed. 

“Severus?” A graceful voice speaks from his left.

He sits up quickly, “Narcissa, thank heavens.”

Narcissa steps out of her walk-in closet wearing a lavender floral gown (a casual dress, he remembers Narcissa telling him once), in the process of pulling on violet satin gloves. She walks over to him as he struggles to stand up for a moment.

“What are you doing here? Surely you would have been willing to wait a little bit, I would have been right down to join you and Lucius.” She pulls him into a hug, tutting all the while, “And to go through the tunnels, did Lucius put you up to this?” 

Severus shakes his head, hugging her back nonetheless, “Its-uh-” He takes one peek at the door, “There’s been a surprise visit from the…Dark Lord.” 

Narcissa’s eyes widen, stricken with fear.

“What are you still doing here? The passage should have brought you to the outskirts of the surrounding forest.” Narcissa asks, “You did take the first turn to the left, didn’t you?”

“Lucius did–what do you mean left?” Severus asks in shock. 

“The first turn to the left would have taken you to the outskirts of the surrounding forest. Were you to take the second turn to the left you would have been catapulted out of the manor.” She lists off, “And to go to the first turn to the right, well, if I remember correctly Lucius has been updating the wards. He wanted to, what do you call it, ‘make a spectacular maze’. It’s become one of his favorite hobbies.”

Severus gapes in shock upon hearing the information, “He told me to go to the first turn to the right! He insisted upon it even!” 

“I should have known Lucius would do something like this. He was probably too frazzled to remember his current hobby” She sighs, “Very well, that doesn’t matter now.” 

Narcissa walks to her ornate dresser, skimming through the jewelry boxes displayed in it. Severus tilts his head to the side in confusion.

“Is now really the time–”

The pureblood snaps the boxes shut, strutting to him with a thin chain. “We were going to give you your own this coming Winter Solstice, but seeing the situation we have at hand…” she trails off, thrusting the item into his hand, “You’re going to have to borrow mine for now.”

“What is this?” He looks at the necklace in his hand, a small simple piece with a pendant of a silver swan with ruby eyes glinting at him. He feels a buzz of magic emitting from the accessory.

“It’s an emergency portkey. It should take you to the cottage that guards one of the property edges. You can use the floo from there, it should automatically activate when you arrive.”

“What about you? And Draco?” Severus asks, ignoring for a moment Narcissa’s prompt for him to get a move on, “Lucius?” 

“Draco and I will be fine. The Darklord doesn’t usually pay attention to either of us. Lucius…” she hesitates for a moment, “He’ll be okay.”

Severus looks into her eyes, trying to see if she’s lying. Damn her but she has the best poker face from all of Slytherin. He sighs in defeat.

“The word is ‘Weasley Wankers’, that will activate the portkey.” she informs him.

“Huh?” he snorts for a moment, shutting up when she gives him an exasperated look, “Okay, okay. We’ll see eachother soon, yes?”

“We will, Severus. Out of the manor next time.” she kisses him on the cheek before taking a  step back, a soft smile on her face. 

He furrows his brows, taking a look at her one last time before saying the portkey activator.

And for a split second, as he is being pulled away, he swears he heard Lucius cry out in pain. 

—----------

“You are actually masochistic for ordering that.” Severus says, after the waiter walks off.

Thomas hums, perplexed, “What are you talking about? I’m just trying out the other food options on your menu.”

“It’s the worst thing on the menu! I would know because I had to cook it at one point.” Severus shudders at the memory.

“Well, don’t let your boss hear you say that. To a customer no less.” Thomas chuckles

“My boss can eat it.”

Days passed by with no word from the Malfoys, much to Severus’ immense concern, but life must reluctantly go on. Back to work at the seedy nameless cabaret. The heavy feeling of being watched is another familiar feeling at this point. Thomas right in front of him telling him stories about his trip to Brunei years ago. Which is, of course, forgotten due to Thomas’ questionable food choices. 

“You’ve gone silent again, dear. And it’s not the usual kind.” Thomas pipes up, breaking Severus out of his weary thoughts, “Are you okay?”

“Hm? Oh yeah, I’m fine.” Severus says, sitting up straight, “What were you saying?”

Thomas furrows his brows, “I wasn’t saying anything.”

“Oh.” Severus looks away, “I suppose my mind is a little bit scattered recently, what with my studies and the war…” he trails off, giving up on the half-baked lie.

Thomas, bless him (just this once!), accepts the lie easily, “You’ve been getting enough breaks between your studies, yes? I’d hate for you to get sick from overworking yourself.”

Severus lets himself smile a little at the concern, “Thank you, but I’ll be fine. I swear. I have 3 mother hens in my life making sure I take care of myself at least 10 percent above the bare minimum.” 

Lily, Alicia, and…

Oh there he goes again thinking of his brother.

He mentally shakes his head and changes the subject, “Have you been feeling something lately?”

Thomas tilts his head in inquiry, “What feeling? If you’re talking about the fluttering in your stomach at the sight of me, then I’m probably finally making some progress.” he smirks.

Severus rolls his eyes, “No, you dolt.” 

“I meant the feeling of being…watched.” he whispers the last part, looking around suspiciously as he does so. 

Something shifts in Thomas’ gaze, in a way that Severus can’t decipher. Nothing is giving away what Thomas is feeling, but he can tell that Thomas is feeling something upon hearing what he said.

“Watched? Like how?” Thomas asks.

Severus pouts, trying to look for the right words to describe it, “To put it plainly like I’m being stalked.” 

“How long has this been going on?” Thomas asks, this time with exasperation coating his tone.

“Hm…” Severus doesn’t say a word.

And luckily or unluckily, he didn’t have to.

A commotion breaks out from behind him, judging by Gardenia’s yelp in surprise and from the gradual silence of the pub. Thomas leans a bit to the side to look beyond Severus. 

Severus, for the most part, sticks to listening to what’s going on. 

“What the fuck was that, huh?” A man slurs out, a slamming noise emitting from his general area.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Jack. I think you just had too much to drink.” Gardenia says, Severus imagines that she is slowly but surely scooting away from the drunken man. “I don’t appreciate you touching me.” 

“No, no, no I felt something. What are you hiding?” The drunken man gets more aggressive, ignoring her berating him.

“Jack, I’m going to need you to calm down, please.” Gardenia says in a panicky voice. 

 “What down there?” the man, Jack, continues, “What the fuck is down there?!”

Gardenia cries out as the man grabs a hold of her trousers and roughly pulls at it.

Upon hearing Gardenia’s distress and fabric being ripped he whips his wand out and immediately performs a wordless disillusionment charm on her person, but not before–

Severus sits there in shock with his wand in his hand, not expecting to see what he just saw. He supposes he never really cared about what makes a person look masculine or feminine, but he could not help his eyes darting around her face to figure out what might give it away. He shakes his head abruptly to rid himself of those thoughts, disappointed by his own instinctive reaction. ‘ That’s not what matters, you idiot!’ he thinks to himself, ‘ Is that really what you want to think of right now?’

“You’re a bloody poofter!” bellows the drunken man, seeing the same thing Severus saw, as he towers over Gardenia’s cowering form. Everyone watches from the sideline as this happens, except for the workers who all jumped into action. Severus runs to Gardenia with a table cloth in hand, securing it around her as fast as he can. Harlow runs and puts himself in between the bastard and them, eyes glowing a sharp violet. Ralph Piper, the club’s bouncer, casts a full body bind on the drunk bastard, purposefully tightening it to a painful degree. The other hosts and hostesses have their wands out and standing in case it escalates.

“Ack!” The drunken man chokes, “You fucking disgusting piece of shit.” He hisses, as he is manhandled away from the club, his body purposefully being slammed into nearby tables and chairs as Piper did so. 

Severus watches as the man is finally kicked out of the club before turning his attention to his work-best friend. Gardenia sobs softly, shaking from underneath the table cloth he draped over her. The halfblood tries to coax her into standing up.

“Let’s get you into the backroom, Gardenia.” He says softly.

Gardenia nods slowly, sucking in a breath and holds it in trying to get a hold of herself before releasing it in the form of a hiccup. By now their boss has come out of his office to ease the tension away from the club. 

They stand up in unison and head for the kitchen door. They pass by Thomas who grimaces with sympathy.

“How are you feeling, Ms. Gardenia? Are you hurt anywhere?” He asks, tilting his head in an attempt to catch her eye. She merely shrugs her eyes downcasted in shame.

Severus looks at him over Gardenia’s head, shaking his head. Thomas nods in understanding, “Tell me if you need anything.” he walks away. 

The halfblood doesn’t bother checking where he heads off to, opting to focus on leading Gardenia into their breakroom.

He ushers her off onto the sofa, sitting her down and getting her a glass of water. 

“You saw it didn’t you?” She says more than ask, breaking the silence that briefly fell over them.

“Saw what?” Severus asks even though he already knows what she is referring to.

“Do I really need to spell it out to you?” She glares at him, “Did you see my–” she cuts herself off, unwilling to say it out of discomfort.

Severus sighs, sitting on the sofa next to her, “I did actually see it, Gardenia. But–” he is quick to comfort her, “I made sure no one else saw.”

The black woman looks at him earnestly, “You did?”

He nods, “It happened on instinct mostly, I heard fabric ripping and I just fired a disillusionment charm immediately.” Because I went through that, once upon a time.

Gardenia stares at him looking for any hints of him lying. When she sees none she nods to herself and leans further into the sofa, “It still doesn’t change the fact that you saw it.”

“What I saw doesn’t matter, Gardenia.”

“It fucking matters, alright!” She bursts out, “It matters ‘cus shit like this happens to me all the time. It hurts knowing people will stop acknowledging me the way I am just because I’m–”

She chokes on a sob.

“--Just because I’m not a real woman.”

Gardenia breaks down, crying heavily into her shaking hands. Severus frowns in sympathy, unsure of how to comfort her. He’s not really good at things like this, not really. 

“I don’t know, you seem like a woman to me.” Severus says, still unsure of what he’s saying, “It’s not obvious.”

She glares at him from between her fingers causing Severus to cringe. Shit, okay that wasn’t the right thing to say.

“What I meant is…” He trails off, trying to find the right words, “I admit I’m unfamiliar with this, I might not even be the right person to talk about this with but I know for a fact that you are whatever the hell you want to be. Sure, you were born with parts that aren’t associated with being a woman but it doesn’t mean you aren’t one. Life finds a way to fuck with us every corner of our life and it’s up to us to fight against that bullshit, to be honest to ourselves, to change, to adjust as we see fit. It’s these things that let us know that we can control what we want, what we need, in our life. And if taking control of your life is being true to yourself, then who the fuck has the right to say otherwise?”

Severus bumps his shoulders with her, “I’m sorry that I wasn’t fast enough to keep you from being outed to me and that dickhead, but I swear to you that your secret is safe with me.”

They sit in silence, absorbing what's been said. Gardenia’s heavy weeping softens into quiet hiccups. He pushes the glass of water into her hands, to which she nods her thanks.

She takes a gulp of water, sighing afterwards. 

“You know,” Gardenia says, her voice a little bit croaky from all the crying, “I don’t think I’ve even met someone who’s actually accepted me being a…transexual woman. My family, for one, disowned me the moment they found out. On my graduation day of all days. My dreams of taking up my mastery was a far away concept as I spent a year trying to survive, taking grueling jobs here and there hiding who I am all the while. So I would be accepted into those jobs, so I wouldn’t be attacked by people who don’t understand.” 

She slumps further into the sofa, a faraway look in her eyes, “Then one day, a rather horrible one, I received an opportunity of a lifetime. An exam to qualify for the partially paid scholarship for the mastery of major magic branches in Great Britain. I took that opportunity in my hands and held onto hope that I can move on from where I came from, to kill that part of me that was at its most miserable. To start anew. And I did. I was among 4 that passed the test. I packed my bags and never looked back. Then I met my master, our shitty boss, you, Harlow, my neighbor…and my life changed. I’m in a better place. I just don’t want to ruin what I built for myself here. ”

Severus shakes his head, “Nothing is ruined, Gardenia. You have all our support, I’m pretty sure Piper is beating that awful man up as we speak.” 

“But they don’t know what I am.”

“And they don’t have to know, unless you want them to.” Severus retorts.

Gardenia nods slowly, “I guess you’re right.” she glares at him, “You better hold up to your promise and keep it a secret.”

“Taking this to my grave.” He says resolutely. 

Satisfied, she sighs and drinks the rest of her water. She floats the glass to the sink and they both fall into silence once again. Severus takes in the information that Gardenia told him, reflecting on the life she lived, the life he lived and wonders if this seedy nameless cabaret is a home to wayward kids like themselves. In his reflection, he remembers a little detail. The halfblood turns to look at her.

“Hey. Does your whore-next-door…?” he asks, knowing that she and that mystery man are involved with one another.

“Oh!” she peeps, “Well, my…uh-my boyfriend–”

“--your whore-next-door?”

She smacks his arm, “Yes–doesn’t seem to mind. He may come off as a bit brutish and closed minded but…” she smiles towards her lap. “He’s been nothing but lovely to me.”

Severus watches her closely, seeing the metaphorical hearts in her eyes at the thought of the man. He looks at how she looks more comfortable in her own skin, probably due to the memory of receiving such a positive reaction from him. 

“I’m glad you’re happy, Gardenia.” he gives her a genuine smile.

She grins back, before chuckling a bit, “You know, we’ve been workmates for almost a year now. Honestly, you’ve become one of my bestest friends. I think it’s about time you call me Dominique or Vee, whatever the hell you prefer.” She says, “Being called Gardenia all the time is starting to get annoying.” 

He agrees with a nod, “Very well, Dominique . Call me Severus and you’ve got yourself a deal.”

They sit there for a while, just taking in the events of what happened tonight. She fiddles with the tablecloth still around her and he reflects, once again, on the new information given to him.

“...I suppose this is your way of telling me that you are dating your whore-next-door.” he says after a while, side-eying her.

She whips her head around to look at him, a weary smile on her face, “Uh…” she clears her throat, “I was going to tell you I swear.”

“Uhuh, sure.”

“Oh, I knew you’d react like this! That’s why I told Harlow first!” She gasps before covering her mouth.

Severus, content with the change of subject he’s provided, puts a hand on his chest dramatically, “You told Harlow first?!” he shakes his head in faux disappointment, “And here we are at first name basis.”

They bantered for a bit and when everything is calmer, their boss begrudgingly allows Dominique to take the rest of the night off, Severus takes that as his cue to brush off his pants, remind his friend to wind down and go back to Thomas. 

Except, he isn’t there. Severus mentally shrugs at his absence and sits down, opting to just wait for the man. His coat and briefcase are still there, after all. 

Suddenly, like a balloon popping, the heavy feeling of being watched snaps away. Had Severus been standing he probably would have toppled over from the instant change.

That’s new.

The feeling usually faded, never once did it abruptly go away. 

“Huh.” is all he decides to say to the matter. He would have investigated further but, alas, he is emotionally drained and it's affected his psyche.

“Oh, darling, you’re back.” Thomas says from behind him, “How is Ms. Gardenia?”

Severus turns to look at him, “She’s given the rest of the night off, she’ll be back to her usual bubbly self tomorrow most likely.”

Thomas sits down, “That’s good, no one should have to go through what she did.”

“Yeah.” is Severus’ only reply, thinking back to his conversation with Dominique in the breakroom. He clears his throat and brings his focus back to Thomas, who seems to look a little more self-satisfied than usual.

“Why do you look like that?” Severus asks.

“Like what?” Thomas asks back.

“Like a cocky bastard. What did you do while I was gone? Where were you anyway?” 

“Nothing, after the commotion, I went back to my seat.” Thomas replies, “I did go to the toilet for a bit, though.”

Severus snorts, “I understand now. You took a satisfying shit in our toilet, then.”

“Wha–no!” Thomas says, flustered, “I was merely washing my hands.”

“Uhuh, suuure.” The halfblood hums.

Thomas splutters, trying to save face, “Darling, don’t be so crass.”

Severus covers his mouth as he laughs at him. Thomas, though embarrassed, smiles softly at the sight.

—-----

Tuesday rolls around, which means another free day at Master Belby’s school. He trudges through the grass, mind filled with worry for the Malfoys. There’s still no word from the family and he’s starting to think up the worst things. He would have written a letter to reach out, but he knows the rules. Lucius has to be the one to write to him first, it’s the only way to guarantee that they are safe to communicate.

It still doesn’t stop the desperate itch to send them an owl, though.

To keep his mind off of this, he’ll just have to use this day to distract him from all of this. There’s no use worrying, though. Lucius will be fine. From the little hints here and there, he knows for sure that the blond man is an invaluable member to the Darklord. That should be enough for now.

Severus walks through the hallway until he reaches the laboratory. He grasps the door knob, ducks and opens the door slowly. Learning from past experiences. When the threat of a projectile flying out to him is not there, he straightens up and walks into the room. His upperclassmen greet him.

He flops his bag onto the table nearest the window, opting to do his studies near natural lighting.

“What have you all been up to?” He asks them in greeting.

Rupert pipes up from where he is playing with the stove fire and a stick, “Just the usual experimentation here and there, Snape.” 

“Although,” Valeria butts in, from next to the ginger woman “Ada did bring the cutest stones I’ve seen in my life.”

Severus walks over to the trio, to have a look at their experiments. At the sight of the table, he starts sweating just a little bit.

"Pearl...is that..." Severus hesitates, looking at the cyan stones scattered all over the laboratory table.

"Is that crystal meth?"

Ada waves her arms around frantically, “Good eye, Snape! At least you’re aware, unlike these clueless pureblood idiots.” she says, pointing her thumb to the two dicking around.

“Oi, I take offense to that, you know.” Rupert says, “I’m always willing to learn new things, especially muggle things.”

“And I’m halfblood, I just so happen to be raised strictly in the wizarding community.” Valeria pipes up haughtily.

“Clueless, either way.” Ada waves her hand around, before looking back at Severus “I’m trying to see if I can replicate its effects with magical ingredients; plant-based ingredients.”

‘Marijuana should have been the immediate answer.’ He thinks to himself.

Severus eyes her wearily, “You don’t happen to know the effects do you?”

“No, of course not!” Ada admonishes, “I’ve been administering it to Jonathan right here.” she points to a twitchy carnivorous plant in a small terrarium behind her. 

“It's extremely fascinating,” says Rupert, “It wasn’t this erratic an hour ago! She injected it with the crystals and it almost immediately started acting up.”

“What is this anyway?” Valeria asks, “Ada was keeping us in the dark all day.”

“I’m not surprised, Guzman, seeing as this is a highly illegal drug in at least 15 countries!” he exclaims, “Where did you even find this, Pearl?”

“This thing is illegal?!” Rupert asks, taking a step back, “Ada Pearl, not again!” 

“Again?!” Severus exclaims.

Ada raises her hands in a placating manner, “Lets not get too hasty. It’s not like I’m going to take it.” she then adds, “I got this from some random alley in Brighton. It’s amazing how easy one can acquire these sorts of things.”

“And yet, you still thought it was a good idea to get illegal drugs all for the sake of science.” Severus retorts, “Ravenclaw psychopath.”

“Oi, I’ll have you know I was a Hufflepuff.” Ada corrects him.

“That makes even more sense!” is his quick reply.

Valeria scoots away from the table, grabbing a small parchment, “Now that we’ve established that, can we please throw this out.” She sweeps the crystals with the parchment. Ada goes to stop her, “I’m not done with those!”

“You are now!” Valeria tries to push her aside, causing an argument to ensue. Poor Rupert is still backed up into another table, unsure of what to do.

Master Belby’s potion prodigies, everyone.

Severus sighs, moving to help before the situation goes out of control. Just as he is about to take a step forward, he tenses at the feeling of being watched multiply ten folds. He silently gasps as the feeling, there’s something new to the sensation. This is unlike the feeling that left him(permanently, he thought) days ago. That made him feel like he was being observed, in a detached way. Clinical. 

This, though.

It feels intimate, like he would be approached(attacked?) at any given moment. Like whoever is watching him is waiting. Waiting for what? Merlin, Severus does not want to know.

He takes a deep breath and heads for his bag to get a calming potion, only to stop dead.

There, by the window his things are, he sees ocean blue eyes watching him from between the curtains. The window itself has been opened, and a hand is inching towards his bag. The moment those fingers breached the windows an alarm blares loudly, shocking everyone in the laboratory. 

“Oh shit!” Rupert blocks his ears, Ada and Valeria doing so too.

Severus watches the person from the window retreat, and he goes to follow. He runs to the open window and searches wildly for the stranger. Nowhere in sight. Damn, they must have apparated away. The halfblood shakes his head before hopping out of the window. He stills when he feels a sharp crunch from beneath his boots. He looks down and sees a muggle wrapper on the floor. He squats down to poke at the plastic packaging.

“…Quavers?” he mumbles to himself, the crinkling of the yellow wrapper drowned out by the worried yelling of his upperclassmen.

“Ada, Master Belby will be here any minute. For the love of Merlin please dispose of the apparently highly illegal crystals. Quickly!” Valeria panics.

“What is that alarm? I’ve never heard of it before.” Severus asks, standing up to look at the panicking trio.

“It’s an intruder charm, Master Belby is very strict about who is allowed and not allowed within the school parameters. I only knew about it because I tried to sneak a mime in once.” Ada says, frantically looking for a place to hide Jonathan.

“Did you invite anyone, Snape? Anyone at all?” Rupert asks, roughly pushing the crystal meth into Ada’s purse.

He merely shakes his head, looking back down on the plastic baggie.

Severus, with a cold feeling in his nerves, finally confirms that he is being watched.

Chapter Text

“Sev, you have to understand my concern.” Lily says, casting a worried look at him.

“I recognize your concern.” He merely says, taking a bite out of his sandwich, “It doesn’t mean it's necessary.”

“Sev!” she exclaims in exasperation, almost knocking her iced coffee off the table.

Severus and Lily are sitting in a corner of a hidden café somewhere in muggle London, a day after the near-break in of the intruder at Master Belby’s school. And what a debacle that was.

“James was the responding Auror to a break-in at your school. Which you are directly involved in, by the way! Why didn’t you tell me you’re being stalked?”

Severus sighs, plopping his sandwich back onto his place, “And here I thought Potter was bound to officer-victim confidentiality.” he says around the bite of food in his mouth.

All he receives is an even sharper glare from her.

“ Ugh, ” he swallows his food, “I didn't think it was anything dangerous,” A lie, “I thought I was being paranoid.”

“And yet you, and I quote, ‘Caught someone trying to steal my things by that exact window’ and ‘It might be the same person who's been following me around lately.’ Severus, please, why do you keep handling dangerous situations by yourself?” 

A spike of irritation rises from within him, “Because, Lily, it’s not a big deal. I’m not some weak damsel at the mercy of villainous types.” 

“It doesn’t mean you have to go through this alone.” Lily wistfully replies, “Sometimes I feel like you forget that you’ve got people you can depend on now.”

Severus rolls his eyes, “Honestly, Lily,” he leans in, pinching her cheek, “How can I forget when I’ve got an army of overbearing motherly types surrounding me,” 

And for some unknown reason, a rich… sugar daddy, alongside them.

He blames Harlow for that last thought.

She whines at the pinching, smacking his hand away, “Okay, fine. So you’re aware of your ‘army of concerned friends’ why aren’t you telling any of us anything.”  

“Because I knew you lot would create a big fuss about it.” he replies. They both silently agree, albeit, one more begrudgingly than the other. They both know that Lucius alone would commission the entire Auror department on some wild goose chase for the stalker; he would much rather avoid that thank you very much.

“Ugh,” she says instead, “What matters now is I know. And that there’s a formally filed case on this bullshit.” 

He sniffs disdainfully, “I promise you that’ll be the last time my…stalker will catch me off guard.”

Severus changes the subject away from his situation, opting to bully Lily into accompanying him to an underground concert that he saw being advertised on graffitied walls. This spirals into an argument as to which of their favorite bands would most likely thrash their instruments the quickest.

He doesn’t tell her that he could feel a watchful set of eyes on his person the entirety of their lunch.

—-

“What the hell is this?” Severus asks, even as he reads the poster in his hands. 

Lupin, who for some reason visited his flat without his consent for the second time of his life, smiles, “It’s Nymphadora’s school play. The Tonks have asked me to extend an invite to you on their behalf.”

“Okay.” he says, “Why the hell should I go?” 

“Because,” Lupin starts, relaxing further into his ratty sofa– how dare he– ”You and I happen to be little Nymphadora’s favorite uncles.”

Uncle?! “When the fuck did that happen?”

“We’re all uncles and aunts to her and you’ve made quite the impact on her, I think.” Lupin shrugs as he replies, “Come on, Severus, it’ll be great!” 

Severus rolls his eyes, discarding the poster onto his coffee table, “I don’t have time for such things.” He returns his gaze onto the telly, resuming a film he’d been watching before the wolf barged(read: politely knocked) into his flat. He already has so much on his plate, the stalker who’s gaze he feels at the very moment included, he would rather not sit through children singing in off tune tones and mediocre acting.

“Nymphadora’ll be really sad. Devastated, even. She’s playing the starring role and she hopes to see her ‘Doctor Uncle’ there. ” Lupin says lightly, trying to guilt-trip him.

Severus side-eyes him, cursing him out in his head as he did. It says a lot about his character when the guilt tripping works.

—-

Later in the evening he is back at work, sitting silently in the backroom while he waits for Thomas to arrive. For some strange reason, ever since the incident with Dominique, he hasn’t felt the dreadful stalker following him here. 

It truly regrets Severus to say this but the cabaret club is proving to be a…solace to him.

Oh how horrible!

Just then, interrupting Severus’ brooding, Harlow and Dominique peaked through the entryway. 

“Hello.” he says distractedly.

“Severus, just the man I wanted to see!” Harlow sing-songs, sitting next to him on the sofa, Dominique opting to lean against the entryway.

“What’s wrong with you this time?” Severus asks. Hallows harrumphs dramatically.

“Why do you immediately assume something is wrong with me!” is his incredulous reply.

Severus just stares at him.

Harlow concedes, “Okay, fine.” he rolls his shoulders, “Since you and Dominique had your heart-to-heart about her secret–”

Severus whips his head around to look at Dominique in alarm, “I swear we were alone.” he says in an apologetic way.

Dominique laughs his worry off, “No, no, Severus. It’s alright. I had a lot to think about and I decided that I can trust both of you with my secret.” she grins brightly, “You’re both my best friends, after all.”

“--anyway,” Harlow butts in, “Since you had your heart-to-heart, I decided I want to tell you both something, as well.” His dumb-happy features turn to one of seriousness, “It’s not going to be pretty, though.”

Severus turns to face the big man properly, sensing the shift in mood.

“So you know I’m a wizard, right?” Harlow says, waving his redwood wand around in demonstration. Severus can’t help but lean back, knowing first hand what can happen with reckless wand waving.

Severus nods for him to carry on.

“I’m not legally one.” Harlow continues, “In the eyes of law.”

“Huh?” Severus utters, glancing at Dominique who shrugs.

“By all accounts I am a wizard.” The bartender lets orange sparkles fly from his wand, “But I’m not supposed to have a wand, I don’t have the right to nor did I have the proper education to get that right. I never went to Hogwarts, or any wizarding school, for that matter. Because I’m not allowed.” 

Severus thinks back to the friendly half giant back in school, having heard rumors of his expulsion and wand snapping decades before. Hagrid had been teary eyed telling the story to Lily and, by extension, him. Had it not been for Dumbledore he would have been pushed out of the wizarding world. Had it not been for Dumbledore he wouldn’t have had a pseudo-wand in the form of an umbrella.

“I suppose what I’m trying to say is why  I’m in Knockturn Alley like you guys.” he stretches, winding himself up seemingly, “Okay, okay, I’ll show you now, phew. I’m nervous, are you nervous? No, okay, okay, let’s do this. Warning, it isn’t pretty and it hurts quite a bit too.” 

Harlow lets out a shuddering breath and every second of air being released from his person the room seems to get colder. The backroom darkens, as though light is being sequestered away leaving only them and the growing cold.

A sickening crunch brings Severus’ attention back to the bartender, freezing as he did so. Harlow’s pale skin goes paper white, any hint of color fading away. His usually soft face sharpens drastically, his cheeks hollowing out causing his cheekbones to jut out harshly. Even through his thick beard, Severus can see just how hollow and sharp his face became. Harlow is scrunched up in discomfort through this, his lips curling into a pained sneer. Severus’ own skin pales at the sight of two sharp fangs pushing through the man’s bleeding gums and wedges itself between his human canines and premolars. 

Harlow gasps out as the pointed teeth finally set into place. He opens his eyes and looks right into Severus’

Crimson red.

The cold recedes along with the darkness as they all silently process what had happened. Severus shoots a quick glance at Dominique who has already closed the door, leaning against it for support. 

“So…” Harlow pipes up, a lisp forming due to the…sharper canines, “I’m half vampire.”

Severus tries to reel his thoughts into a coherent stack, flabbergasted by the events. Dominique blows a breath, pushing off the door to sit on the sofa’s armrest by Severus. They both openly gape at Harlow who is starting to feel really fucking nervous.

“Well? Please say something, even if it's to tell me to fuck off.” Harlow murmurs, the lowest Severus has ever heard his usually boisterous voice go.

“...You have got to be the least charismatic vampire I’ve met in my whole entire life." is all Severus can say, the vampire lets out an offended gasp.

“Wha–I’ll have you know ladies dig the rough look. They find me allurin’!” Harlow bellows, the tension officially snapping at that.

Dominique giggles into her palms, slowly relaxing as well, “I’m sure they do, Harlow.” she leans towards him, “I’ve got to admit, I’ve never met a real vampire before. I don’t see what the fuss is all about.”

“Now that you mention it, Dominique, me neither. You're face looks like a crumpled up sheet of paper, Harlow.” Severus adds.

Harlow huffs out a breath, scratching his beard with his elongated claws, “Honestly, you gits. Had I known that this would be your initial reaction I would have just said it instead of making a whole show of it.” he looks at both of them with hopeful bright red eyes, “This means we’re still cool right? I promise I’m harmless, I only drink mutton’s blood.”

Severus and Dominique take one look at one another and nods firmly, “This doesn’t change anything, you’re still a loser.” the American says resolutely.

“So uncalled for, I swear.”

—--

Severus finds himself on the 22nd of November seated in a school auditorium, Lupin sitting to his right and Lily sitting to his left. Nymphadora is up at the center of the stage, her usually bright neon hair is charmed to a black bob cut, a pretty red ribbon sits cutely on top. She sways as she says her lines, her blue and yellow dress swishing along to her movements.

“Please let me stay. I'll make sure your house isn't yucky. I’ll even cook food for you all.” She bargains, watching the 7 dwarves talk among themselves. By dwarves Severus means 7 kids kneeling on comically big shoes pretending to be shorter than Nymphadora.

“Cook?!” the dwarves exclaimed in unison

“Can you cook Shepherd's pie and beans on toast?” asks the leader dwarf, Don or something.

“Ca-ACHOO-n you cook fish and chips?” asks the Snotty one.

“Can you cook Lasagna and Beef Wellington? I bet you can’t, stinkybug!” harrumphs the Hotheaded one, a wave of laughter comes from the audience.

While the other dwarves give their lines, Nymphadora spots Lupin and Severus in the crowd, lighting up brightly as she did. Ted Tonks turns around to look at them, “Dora’s more excited about you both being here than her own da.” he jokes, quickly turning around at the sound of her speaking again.

“She is so cute,” Lily gushes, “Oh, I can’t wait for Harry to go to primary school. Isn’t that right, James?” She turns to her husband who has Harry seated on his lap.

Potter nods enthusiastically, “This is great! Muggles sure know how to utilize their free time. A stage play, how intriguing.” 

Severus groans quietly to himself, staring up at the ceiling while ‘Snow White’ teaches the seven dwarves the importance of washing up before dinner. He’s pretty sure one of the dwarves’ fake nose is about to slip right off their face. He swears one of them tripped while trying to walk on their knees earlier. 

This isn’t how he wanted to use one of his rare time-off requests from work.

 Just then a familiar feeling wells up within him, making him freeze.

‘ Fuck, not now.’

He inwardly sighs, chancing a glance at Lily who is watching, rapt at the performance. He shoots a quick look towards Lupin who is just as engaged. Then he tilts his head back, looking beyond Lupin’s head. His eyes catch gleeful ocean blue eyes from across the auditorium. His stalker wink at him and isn’t that horrifying on its own.

“Is everything alright, Severus?” Lupin asks, taking Severus’ attention away.

“Hm?” he looks back at the eyes–no longer there–and scoffs, “Yes, I’m fine. I’m just looking for the nearest troll to bash my head in.”

Lupin rolls his eyes playfully, “Well don’t be like that. Look, the Queen is about to have a proper fit.”

—

After the performance the group stands huddled around at the entrance of Nymphadora’s school among all the other families. 

Ted Tonks, with wet eyes, hugs his daughter, spinning her around as he did so. She giggles holding on tight, “That was just marvelous, love! Oh you were amazing. Wasn’t she, Andy?”

Andromeda pets Nymphadora’s head, a big smile on her face, “Yes, she was. And to have the starring role, how did you keep that a secret, hm?” she glares mischievously at her daughter.

“I’m a police officer! I must keep conif-condi-cooonfiiideeentiiial information to myself!” the little girl says proudly as she is set back down to the floor, “Except Uncle Remus and Doctor Uncle Severus! They're allowed to know!” Severus, unwilling to acknowledge the warmth he feels at that statement, is willing to bet that her hair is morphing into a dozen colors underneath the illusionment charms placed on it.

Potter, who remembers what a police officer is, puffs his chest out, “That’s the spirit, lass! If you keep that up, you’ll be just as amazing as I am!” 

Severus side-eyes him, remembering the conversation he had with Lily. This idiot can barely keep a secret from his wife. 

They walk to a hotel that is 2 blocks away, a public floo active in the establishment. The Tonk’s had invited them to dinner after the show. Severus would have declined but Alicia is currently out of town on some romantic getaway, so there isn’t any good food for him to go home to.

He isn’t about to decline free food, after all. Not in this economy.

"Say bye-bye bus!" Little Nymphadora Tonks exclaims after spotting a bus drive by. Severus spots the pair of ocean blue eyes from the vehicle's window.

A chorus of bye-byes echoes from the huddled group. 

Severus pauses for a moment then looks down at the little girl then to his unwanted companions. "Did we really just..." 

"I'll tell you, mate. Nothing is stronger than a request to say bye-bye, not even an Imperius." Ted Tonks sagely says, petting his daughter's head.

—-

A week later Severus is at the Potter residence, standing next to Lily as he watches the 3/4 of the Marauders attempt to decorate the living room for Christmas. Potter is off to the side with Harry in his arms, pinning Christmas stockings on the fireplace. All of their names are present, even Severus’ on a black and white stocking. Lupin is hanging little shimmery trinkets around the windows, debating to himself whether to choose blue and white or red and gold as the year’s theme. Black, Severus notes in amusement, is struggling against the 8 ft Christmas tree, trying to wrestle it into place with little luck.

He also does his damndest to ignore the stalker-Oop, shit, he just made eye contact through the curtains of the glass door leading to the backyard.

Damn shit.

“As festive as this is–” he turns to look at his best friend and away from ocean blue eyes, “--What am I here for?”

Lily huffs from where she is dusting Christmas themed snow globes and shaking out wreaths, “Well, since you have plans to decorate your flat with Alicia,” she starts, a hint of jealousy in her voice, “Next week, I thought that you might join us decorating here. Like you have for the past 2 years.” Because I am your bestest friend remains unsaid but there. 

Severus looks at her in amusement, “Jealousy doesn’t suit you, Lily. That’s Potter’s forte.”

Potter side eyes him jokingly, “Had I known you were gay from the get go…”

“Bah bah bah! A-guuu...” Harry babbles to his father.

“Couldn’t have said it better myself, little lad!” Potter coos at his son.

Severus rolls his eyes, turning back to Lily, “Anyway, if it will make you feel better I’ll put up that ugly reindeer statue we made when we were 8.”

Lily straightens up, “Merlin, I forget Randy exists every year!” she gasps, running off somewhere, “Speaking of which! I found something.” 

He hears objects being moved around in haste from wherever she is, “I was doing some cleaning in the attic the other day and I bumped into a box of things my parents gave me years ago.” she runs back to him with a picture frame in her hands, “I just had it framed earlier.”

She hands him the frame. He gasps softly at the image.

It’s Lily and himself when they were 10, during the Christmas season by the looks of it. He remembers not being able to actually spend Christmas with them (Tobias being a villain as usual), so they ‘celebrated’ a week earlier.

They're both smiling widely at the camera, posing back to back in a punk rock get up. Lily has her hair done in spiky half up pigtails. Bright red eyeshadow was messily rubbed onto her eyelids that made her green eyes pop more than they usually do, there's also a crudely drawn heart on her cheek. In her hands, she was holding a fake electric guitar made of cardboard pretending to play it as she bent forward a bit.

Severus on the other hand has his hair in a half up ponytail, not as spiky as hers but there are a few strands of hair sticking up in random directions. He has purple eyeshadow rubbed into his left eye, and while he can barely see the right eye he faintly remembers rubbing the same bright red as Lily’s, a star drawn on his cheek to match her heart. He leaned heavily against his best friend, pretending to sing his heart out into a fake microphone–an empty tissue roll with a ball stuck on the top and yarn taped as the wire–both hands gripping it for dramatic effect.

And behind them, on the mantle of the Evans’ fireplace, stood ‘Randy’ the reindeer that they sculpted; in all its ugly glory.

“Holy shit, Lily.” he looks at her, with wet eyes, “I remember this. Tuney took this photo.”

“Crazy, right? The rare time we got along with her.” She sniffles, teary-eyed herself, sidling next to him to take a look at the photo, “Back when she used to sew clothes like crazy and we’d model for her.” she smiles up at him, “I think you should keep this picture.”

“What? But wouldn't be so much nicer here.” He gestures to the wall of pictures on the wall, a collection of memories through the years between Lily and her husband. Some moving and some unmoving, making it easy to spot whose is whose.

Lily shrugs, “It would be nice if you started a little photo wall of your own too. Starting with this.”

He stares back down at the picture, his heart full and so very warm at the sight. But also–

“This isn’t a ploy to one up Alicia, is it?” He asks, wiping his eyes as subtly as he can.

He gets a side eye for that.

“I’m joking.” he appeases lazily before thanking her genuinely for the picture.

They turn back to the noisy men.

“Are you really still struggling against the Christmas tree?” Severus asks mockingly towards Black, ignoring Lily’s mumbling ‘Here we go.’ “The tree will be bald by the time you’re done wrestling with it.”

Black grunts before looking at him in irritation, “Yeah, I’d like to see you try and put this into place.” he then grumbles, “It’s hard to balance this stupid thing.”

Severus rolls his eyes and takes his wand out, “ Wingardium Leviosa .” Black steps away from the tree as it starts to float towards a corner that Severus is leading it into. The tree plops softly onto the ground. Lily casts a sticking spell without prompt before he cancels the levitation charm.

“Done.” he smirks at Black, he casts a Reparo on the sagging tree just to annoy Black further, “Now that wasn’t so hard now, was it?”

“Oily git.” Black responds.

“Idiot prick.” Severus replies back.

—-

Do shit.

Be watched.

Do shit while being watched.

Work at the shitty cabaret club unwatched.

Leave and be watched again.

Repeat.

Is the routine forced upon Severus the past weeks. Even after the whole fiasco at Master Belby’s he can still feel the watchful gaze of his stalker from the windows–with all the curtains shut, mind you. Whoever this person is is definitely more persistent than before. Never doing anything besides taunting him with his eyes, always in the background. It's getting ridiculous.

Still, Severus thinks to himself, it isn’t hindering him from his life. From his chores and personal duties.

Like right now.

Severus apparates into a dank alleyway, next to a muggle grocery. Alicia and his supplies are running low, so he needs to run a little errand. Thank goodness for these 24/7 establishments. And thank goodness for muggle things, way more affordable than anything the magical world can offer.

He shivers quietly, going through his trouser pockets for the grocery list he has while he slowly walks out of the dank darkness. A few people passing by give him weirded out glances, unsure of why a man would walk out of a dank alleyway like he did. Other than that they mind their own business in the bustling night. 

An apparition pop resounds behind him and the familiar stalker-y gaze is back. He slows to a halt at the mouth of the alleyway. 

That’s the stalker. They're right behind me.

Severus lets out a deep breath as he hears footsteps walk up to him, slowly as though the person is aware that he is aware of their presence. As though he is not afraid of what Severus might do.

Foolishly, Severus turns around without much thought. 

“What the fuck.”

Chapter Text

Severus Snape stares the the person before him.

The person's blond hair is side swept carefully tousled in place shaping ocean blue eyes and a shark-like grin, those eyes whose gaze he’s become unfortunately acquainted with. Not to sound absolutely gay but he knows those golden locks from anywhere. What it’s doing here, Severus knows fuck all.

“What the actual fuck!”

He steps towards the stalker in a rush and the person merely opens his arms out in greeting.

“Long time no see, old friend!” He greets menacingly, winking like he did back at Nymphadora’s school play, “What? No hello?”

Severus grabs onto the man’s arm dragging him further into the alleyway, “Ev–Rosier?! What the hell are you doing here!”  

“You’re just the man I wanted to see.” Rosier exclaims with a boyish cocky grin, letting himself be pulled.

“You’re the arsehole that’s been spying on me?!” Severus bellows angrily, glaring up at the pureblood.

“Spying is a harsh word. I think a kinder term should be ‘keeping tabs’ on you.” Rosier says, “We haven’t seen each other in 2 years after all, one would naturally be curious about the state of their school friend.”

“Friend.” Severus deadpans, “Is that what I am to you now? A friend?” He scoffs.

Rosier raises his hands in a placating manner, “Okay, if this is about what happened in 7th year–”

“--Yes it is exactly about what happened in 7th year–”

“-- you were the one who chose to pull away.” Rosier finishes, looking at him like they both agree to what he’s said.

Severus gapes at him, “Of-bloody-course I’d pull away, I didn’t want to join the Death Eaters!” he sighs, “You could have joined me, you and Regulus both, but you were blinded by your idiot pureblood supremacy! Now here we are; a neutral party and–” the halfblood whips out his wand, finally realizing the situation. 

“A death eater.” he states, his wand pointed to the pureblood’s relaxed person, “What do you want with me, Rosier.”

Rosier throws him an unimpressed look, “Neutral party, my pureblooded arse.” He slides his hands into his pockets and his stance relaxes further, unbothered by the wand pointing threateningly at him. 

Severus takes a step forward, to which Rosier takes a step back at the feeling of the wand sharply jabbing his chest. 

“Like I said, I’ve been keeping tabs on you, Severus. Taking up your mastery at some uptight school and working with Dumbledore’s ragtag group of heroes,” Rosier clicks his tongue, he gives the halfblood a mocking impressed look, “You’ve got quite a lot on your plate.” 

“And why is that any of your business?” Severus interrogates, “What does your ‘master’ need from me?”

Rosier’s face morphs into one that is affronted, “Oi, I’m no one’s bleeding minion. This is on my own volition.” 

Severus scoffs, “Bullshite.” he thrust his wand further into his ex classmate's chin who grunts in irritation, “Now let me ask you again, what does the Dark Lord want from me?”

Rosier throws his head back, “ Uuuuuuuugh. Hell if I know, I’ve never met him!” he tilts his head off to the side, “I’m not a Death Eater, anyway.”

Severus’ wand drops a bit at the information, “What? Show me your forearms–both of them.”

“Whatever the hell that means.” Rosier complies either way, taking off his coat and hangs it on a dumpster right next to him (Severus pulls a disgusted face at that) and pulling up his sweater to show bare flesh free of the wormy 8 tattoo, “I never actually made it in. I was let go, disqualified if you will.” The pureblood smiles grimly at his own statement, like he’s holding back from hexxing anyone for no good reason; he has always had quite the anger issues, almost rivaling Bellatrix’s (As far as Severus could remember about her anyway, he was 14 the last time he saw her.)

Severus drops his offensive stance completely at that.

Rosier takes that as his sign to continue, “You see, I’ve been involved in a little accident not long after graduation and let's just say it took away my ability to walk on the path to my destined duties.” Rosier readjusts his sleeves before pulling both of his trousers up to show his legs.

Or at least, a mimicry of it.

There’s iron instead. Iron prosthetics. It’s beautifully crafted, with snake-like designs engraved into it from the limiting sight Severus can see. Little emerald stones are wedged into the engraved creature’s eyes, twinkle in the dark whenever Rosier moves involuntarily. It almost reminds Severus of those fancy fountain pens Lucius used to collect back in Hogwarts. Severus wonders how far up the prosthetics goes.

“They both go up to my thighs.” Rosier answers as though he read his mind and lets go of his trousers, hiding away the glinting artificial limbs once more.

Severus stands there in shock, not expecting to find out that one of his old classmates (by extension, ex-friend) is in such a state, “I-but you move so well. I wouldn’t have known that you had prosthetics if you hadn’t shown me.” he inwardly cringes at his tone-deaf sentence. 

Rosier grim smile deepens, “Magic is one hell of a thing, Snape. Definitely makes us way more superior to muggles.” then his smile morphs into a sneer instead, “Not to say that I was superior enough to join the Dark Lord, at least.”

Severus hums, shock subsiding, “Hm, I’d say you dodged a bullet, Rosier.”

“Have I really? Is having your family ashamed of you and borderline ignoring you a dodged bullet? What the fuck is a bullet anyway?! Bloody muggle idioms!” Rosier exclaims, “I’m on the brink of disownment and the only reason I haven’t been burned off the tapestry, Walberga Black style, is because my dickhead parents are too selfish to hand off Lordship to my stupid sodding cousin.”

The pureblood turns back to Severus, whose wand is aimed at him again, he breathes out harshly, “You can put that down, Severus. I’m not going to throttle you. Just got a little angry.”

Severus drops his wand again, “A little?”

“Okay, fine, a lot angry. That doesn’t matter.” Rosier says, “What matters is why I’m here talking to you.”

Severus eyes him wearily, “And that is?”

“I want in." Rosier says.

"In where?" Severus asks exasperatedly.

"In the Order of the Bird."

"It's Order of the Phoenix. And what the fuck, are you serious?" Severus asks in disbelief.

"Yes I am." Rosier says seriously, "I've been doing a lot of soul searching which led me to doing a fuck load of research and…I've got to say, you lot were right."

Severus' face scrunches up, "...'You lot were right', that's it? That’s all it took for you to change your life philosophy of ‘Eradicate all muggles.’? You can’t honestly believe that I’d fall for that.”

“Give me some credit, mate. 2 years was a long enough time for me to change.” Rosier defends himself, “I think muggles are okay!”

“You're still very much a racist, Rosier." Severus deadpans.

"No, I'm not." Rosier crosses his arms defensively.

"You literally just said we are superior to muggles for having magic."

"Alright, so maybe I'm still working on it. But that doesn't change the fact that I'm trying to change, does it?" Rosier says before mumbling out a little 'we are kind of superior, though' which Severus decided to ignore.

"But enough to grant you an invite to the Order? This isn't some job application or a dinner party, Rosier. It takes more than just willingness to change to be a part of a cause that's fighting against a cause you wholeheartedly support for the longest time."

“That’s the point, though isn’t it?” Rosier insists, “I want to help untangle this ideology we’ve had for centuries. Imagine this, Evan Armand Rosier, The First Muggle Tolerator of the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Rosier.” Rosier says as his hands waving dramatically in front of him, somehow saying that long fucking title in capital letters.

“What the fuck kind of title is that.”

“I can’t say Muggle Lover, that sounds a bit gay, innit?”

“Wha–” Severus shuts his mouth, unwilling to get into that , instead he rubs his chin in thought, “Although, I suppose you might have invaluable information on the group.” Severus perks up, “Did you ever see his face?”

“The Dark Lord’s? I just told you I haven’t.”

Severus pouts to himself, “Not even a glimpse?”

"I never even made it past the background check, Severus. The chances of me having ever seen his face was 0 to bloody none."

“...How about his followers, do you know the others that made it in?”

“Asides from your dear brother,” Rosier says mockingly and Severus holds back a flinch, “Mulciber and Avery, for sure. They showed it off before cutting me off from their bloody lives.”

The pureblood frowns angrily, “You’d think seven years of friendship is enough to cut me off for my rotten fucking legs.” 

“Uhuh, that's karma, dickhead.” 

“Shut up.”

Severus rolls his eyes before a thought comes to him, “How do you even know I’m involved with the group?” he asks distrustfully.

“You might have met my other cousin, Rupert Knots, the ugly bastard. He isn’t as silent as he wants to believe himself to be.” Rosier says, “Imagine my surprise when he and his little ginger friend discussed your involvement. Out in the open! Of course that led me to do a little bit of snooping now here I am. In muggle London with you.” Rosier smirks. 

“Were you the one creeping on me at my workplace too, then?”

“Nah. I hired someone to creep on you for a bit, find your workplace. He hasn’t reached out to me yet, though.” Rosier hums, “He’s either dead or a scam.” he jokes, unbothered by either prospect. “Now that we’re on the topic of your workplace, tell me where it is.”

“Fuck no.” Severus refuses immediately, horrified at the thought of Rosier seeing the cabaret club in all its degenerate glory.

“Why not?” Rosier whines.

“You’ve bothered me enough, Rosier. Leave me to work in peace.”

Rosier harrumphs, “It’s not like I’ll do anything, I just want to know what's up.”

“Just–” Severus starts, “Let it go.”

“Pah! You’re no fun.” Rosier frowns, “Crazy coincidence that you wound up here though, what’s up with that?”

“I’m surprised you didn’t know, seeing as you’ve been stalking me all month.”

“--Keeping tabs–” Rosier butts in.

“But if you really must know, I’m here for an errand. It just so happens that this is my first time shopping in this area, which you probably already know.” Severus says, making another jab towards his stalker tendencies. What he doesn’t say is he heard from a bunch of old ladies this morning talking about this muggle grocery branch having a major year end sale starting tonight. 

Severus may have an absurdly rich pureblood paying him too much money, but it wouldn’t hurt to be as frugal as before. 

Rosier claps his shoulder, to which he growls in irritation, “Well you are in for a treat! Look here.” he picks up his sweater.

Rosier walks a little further into the alleyway, Severus following in distrust. 

“This is…” The pureblood taps at the air in front of him, before a dumpster comes wobbling into existence, “My muggle hideout.”

“...Muggle hideout…” Severus breathes out.

His eyes widen as Rosier hoists himself up and into the previously disillusioned dumpster–Is he wearing Adidas sneakers?

“What the hell are you doing, Rosier?” Severus moves closer, taking a peek inside. “Do you…do you think muggles live in dumpsters?” 

“What?! No, you idiot! I told you I was soul-searching, didn’t I? Well, I was investigating the lives of muggles.” He throws his arms out, as though he is showing off a magnificent breakthrough. “This is where I keep my research.”

Severus can only stare at him incredulously. The heir of the pureblood family Rosier has truly gone off the deep end these past few years. Take this as a life lesson children, don’t do drugs and definitely don’t go about preparing your life as a Death Eater; it will not end well.

“And what have you ‘discovered’ so far?” Severus decides to play along. Might as well pretend this is an evaluation of Rosier’s qualifications to get into the Order of the Phoenix. 

“I have to say, Severus. Muggles know how to have fun.” Rosier disappears into the dumpster, seemingly shoveling around junk, “I mean, where have you ever seen a twistable cube! This would simply blow the minds of magical folk.”

Rosier pops back up and shoves a toy into Severus’ chest, who scrambles to grab it before it could fall on the ground, before diving back in.

Severus recognizes it after a moment of staring, “Oh this is a new one. It’s a Rubix cube I think, I read about it in the papers earlier this year.” 

“Oh don’t get me started on muggle newspapers, it’s kind of boring, though. But those little illustrations make up for it.” He appears once more with a newspaper in hand, pointing to the comic strip with Andy Capp’s dumb green hat.

“Uhuh, I see.” Severus says distractedly, turning back to the Rubix cube. He spies scribbling on the white squares, “Theresa Bennet? Whose that?” 

“Hell if I know.” Rosier replies from within the dumpster, “Hector nabs half these things for me.”

“Okay…now who is that?” Severus asks.

“Sh–” Rosier’s watch suddenly flashes a blue light, “Right in time. I’ll introduce you.”

He takes out a step ladder and positions it in front of the dumpster.  

“Hector? Come here, lass. What did you get me?” Rosier looks further into the alleyway, the halfblood turning to follow his gaze.

In the shadowy dirty alleyway a crackling noise makes its way to them, like something is being dragged through the asphalt. An animalistic heaving echoes from the dark and it pushes Severus to keep his wand at the ready incase of an attack. He braces himself as whatever is approaching is about to breach the harsh line between the dark and the light the backdoor light is providing. He holds his breath as paws step into view.

And he immediately releases his breath in disbelief.

Walking up to them, a dark blue ball of fluff, the creature enthusiastically waddles-drags itself over to the stepladder and hops into the pureblood’s waiting hands. The creature presents a thick red board with a yellow center almost bigger than its body.

“Oh what is this? How wonderful. Thank you, Hector.” Rosier praises the niffler in his hand, taking the object into the other. The niffles purrs happily before hopping onto the dumpster’s lip, peering at the object. “...Speak and spell? What is this?” 

He presses a random button, jumping in shock when the toy speaks to him.

“ Spell Health.” says the Speak&Spell.

“Holy shit,” Rosier peeks into the speaker hole, “Is someone there?!” he asks while pressing the corresponding buttons.

“ You are correct. ” replies the Speak&Spell.

Rosier whips his head to look at Severus, who by this point is just shocked by this whole ordeal. He should have known, he supposes, that it was Evan Rosier fucking with him the entirety of November. This isn’t what he had in mind when he thought of confronting his stalker, being shown muggle things as though he, himself, hasn’t seen them before. It's insane but this is a better way of dealing with his life falling apart rather than going into one of his ‘Rosier Rampages’. Insane indeed.

Severus purses his lips to hide his smile. This doesn't seem like Muggle Tolerator activities.

Again, Severus decides to play along, “There’s no one in there. It’s programmed to speak to you, as the name suggests.” He tries to think of muggle inventions that've been borrowed into the Magical world, “The gramophone, for example, uses a disc with grooves in them to create music. Like in those balls the Malfoys throw often.”

Rosier nods along attentively.

“I don’t know for sure, but I think the Muggles used a computer to make it so not only will that device electronically speak to you but it will also respond to you. It’s intriguing stuff, really.”

“You’ve got that right.” Rosier agrees, “Say, what’s a computer?”

Severus rolls his eyes, “Let me have a look at what you’ve collected, you might have it in there.”

“Good idea. Come help me, Hector.” The pureblood balances the Speak&Spell onto the lip of the dumpster before diving right in, his niffler following suit.

Severus stands there waiting on his ex-friend, ex classmate, ex-fellow-death-eater-in-training, trying once more to make sense of how his evening turned into this.

An icy cold feeling spreads through his person when he suddenly hears a person speak from the alleyway entrance.

“Darling?” a painfully familiar voice calls out to him.

Rosier goes to stand, “Who–” 

In his panic he shoves Rosier right back into the dumpster, the Speak&Spell ricocheting noisily on the alley ground next to him. He slaps his hand over Rosier’s mouth, shutting him the hell up.

“ Thomas! ” he coughs at the accidentally over enthusiastic, high pitched way he says his name.

“ Thomas, ” He repeats in a much more manly tone this time, “What brings you here in this fine…” Severus trails off glancing at the massive sign from the alley entrance.

“...Tesco…”

“What on earth are you doing?” the pureblood asks, ignoring his inquiry and making his way towards him.

“Do-don’t come any closer!” Severus warns, grunting as he struggles to keep Rosier from popping up. He casts a silent spell on the struggling pureblood when he feels the vibrations of his voice getting stronger from behind his hand. He looks away from the offended glare.

Thomas slows down, not stopping completely, “Why?”

“There’s a rabid animal in here,” he glares back at Rosier, whose offended glare intensifies, “Absolutely feral.”

“Do you need any help?” Thomas asks in concern, taking out his own wand.

Severus barely spares Thomas a glance, “No! No, I’m perfectly capable.” he replies. 

“ Petrificus Totalus! ” he whispers harshly, waving his wand violently. Rosier affronted glare tightens into a wide eyed stare as he goes rigid from the spell.

Severus takes a second to make sure Rosier won't be moving anytime soon before sighing in relief, “See? I got it to go to sleep.” 

Thomas stops completely, at least 3 meters away from him, “That’s good and all, but that doesn’t tell me what you’re doing here?” he gestures around the alleyway, “What are you doing here?”

"I was just..." he takes quick fire glances at his surroundings, "Picking up trash."

"Picking up..."

"I absolutely abhor pollution. So when I see trash lying about," he picks up the Speak&Spell on the ground, "I can't help but clean up." he throws it into the dumpster, flinching slightly when it makes a little bonking noise that tells him it hit Rosier on the head. Whoops.

“And the feral animal?” Thomas asks.

“I didn’t know it was making a home out of this dumpster.” is all Severus says.

“Right.” Thomas purses his lips, “And this is all you’re doing all night?”

“No, of course not. I have a life, unlike some people.” he says, making a jab towards either pureblood, both understanding it for what it is in their own ways. While Rosier, hidden and frozen in the dumpster, is unable to show his disdain, Thomas rolls his eyes playfully.

He juts his chin out towards the entrance of the alley, “I’m going grocery shopping.” 

“Are you? What a coincidence, so am I.” Thomas lightens up, smiling at him, “Why not go together, then?”

“Now why would I do that?” Severus asks.

“Don't be like that, Darling. It’ll be fun.” he smirks, “A little date if you will.”

“N–” Severus stops himself from disagreeing, using this as a chance to steer Thomas away from the dumpster, “You know what? Fine, let’s go together. Not as a date, though.”

“Whatever you say, dear. Come now, this isn’t the most pleasant of places.” Thomas’ face pulls up in disdain at the smelly and dank alleyway.

“Yes, yes let's go.” without looking at Rosier he scurries to Thomas, casting a cleansing charm on himself as he does. He wasn’t kidding when he said this place isn’t pleasant, it stinks of rotting garbage and other dubious smells. His ex-classmate sucks for choosing this location for his strange hobbies of all places.

They finally step outside the alleyway,  

“What are you doing here anyway? You’re not stalking me, are you?” Severus asks once more, now that he is in the clear.

Thomas pulls out a shopping trolley from its place, “I told you I’m grocery shopping like you are, dear. Us meeting is a coincidence.” 

“Here? How do you even know about grocery stores?” 

“I don’t live under a rock, darling. What do you take me for?” Thomas says in a jokingly offended tone.

Severus makes a little ‘ugh’ sound out of irritation, “You know what I mean! Not many purebloods this day and age bother with Muggle…culture.”

Thomas smiles, as though he knows something he doesn’t. Knowing him, he probably did; he kind of hates it (he hates it a lot).

“What are you making that face for, dickhead?” 

Thomas chuckles pushing the cart towards the aisles of products, “Don’t worry about it, dear. Come along now, we’ve got groceries to buy.”

Chapter Text

Now that they are both in the brightly lit up Tesco, the halfblood has a good look at Thomas.

“What are you wearing?” he asks, looking him up and down.

Thomas hums in question, glancing down at himself, “Oh, this? Sweatpants, dear.” he gestures vaguely to himself, “and a white shirt…and a coat. Running shoes, I think.”

Severus rolls his eyes, “I mean, I’ve never seen you in something so casual.”

“I’m just doing my shopping, Darling, I can’t always be in a suit, that’s unnecessarily tiring.” Thomas replies, combing his hands through his un-gelled hair, the curls bouncing in a way that Severus refuses to acknowledge as cute, “Does it look bad?”

Damn, quite the contrary, “I suppose not,” Severus sniffs dismissively, as though the sight of Thomas in comfortable clothes doesn’t make him go a little (a lot) mushy inside. As though the hard edges that are usually so present in Thomas’ features aren’t softened by this little bit of casualness, like it isn’t totally making him more of a person to Severus’ eyes and less of a caricature of a rich pureblood. As though Thomas’ hair curled in its natural waves shining softly under harsh florescent lights doesn’t make him want to just brush his hands through them, imagining the silky feeling between his fingertips. As though- 

“Have you got a list?” Thomas asks, his hands back on the cart handles.

“Huh? Oh, yeah.” Severus snaps out of his embarrassing reverie, aggressively slamming the doors shut to that long winding line of thoughts into a pristine box in his mind labeled Thomas. With a subtle deep breathe, he takes out his shopping list and waves it around a bit.

“Let me see.” Thomas tries to snatch it from his hand to which he pulls it away quickly.

Severus frowns, “No, mind your own business.”

“You’ve known me long enough to know that I like being in your business.” Thomas smirks, leaning closer to him, “It’s my most favorite hobby. Next to ‘annoying the living hell out of you’, of course.”

Severus rolls his eyes, “You need better hobbies, Thomas.” He walks away for a moment, Thomas chuckling after him, towards the stacked pile of grocery baskets and plops it into the front of the cart.

“What’s that for?”

“So we can have our groceries separated. In a convenient way.” Severus replies, “My shopping stays in the basket without me having to carry it about.”

Thomas shrugs, “Can’t fault your logic. Let's go then.” the pureblood glances around, his own shopping list pinched between his fingers as he holds onto the shopping trolley’s handle, “Where shall we start?”

Severus hums, looking around himself as well, “Well, I don’t think either of us need anything from this aisle.” He gestures to the wall of sanitary pads and tampons on each side of them.

“Ah, yes, of course.” Thomas says, a bit flustered. He marches out of the aisle with Severus following after him.

“Why’re you so embarrassed about that? Aren’t you too old to be red-faced at the sight of womanly needs?” Severus teases, leaning forward to take a closer look at the pureblood’s pink cheeks. He, himself, can’t find it in him to be embarrassed by the sight; not when he was the one to stick the sanitary pad on for Lily all those years ago.

Still, it is quite nice to see Thomas flustered. He’s only got to witness it a handful of times; barely a handful even. He’ll cherish every moment of flushed-cheeked-Thomas he will get, thank you very much.

“I’m not as old as you make me out to be, darling.” Thomas deadpans, “But I must admit I was raised in quite a…conservative environment.” He says, waving his hand around in a noncommittal manner.

Severus hums, latching on the little bit of information the pureblood has given him. “Fair enough. I can’t imagine pureblood households to be progressive. No offense.”

Thomas gets a far away look in his eyes, though it was gone in a flash, “Yeah, they really aren’t.”

They head for the fresh produce aisle where Thomas grabs a thing of bagged lettuce. He twists it around and looks at the leaves to check their quality and puts it into his side of the cart. As he grabs for other vegetables Severus walks a little bit away and grabs his own based on the list he and Alicia debated on.

‘Tofu…Stringed Beans…Hm.’ He goes through the motion of the task, comparing prices between one package of carrots to another. Thank, Merlin for year end sales.

Severus’ mind, although concentrated on the packs of arugula leaves, wonders for a moment. It’s strange how he is doing groceries with a…client of his. A glance to his side tells him that Thomas has moved on to eyeing his milk choices. Severus purses his lips.

‘Crazy domestic, is what this is.’  He thinks to himself, putting a small carton of mushrooms into his basket, snugly next to the arugula.

He turns towards Thomas again, pointing to a carton of milk, “Can you pass me that please?” Severus asks.

Thomas hands it over without prompt, still occupied by his own dairy dilemma.

Less than a minute later they are back to strolling through the grocery, grabbing things that they need. Severus eyes their cart, noticing a weird pattern.

“What is all this?” He asks, pointing at their trolley.

Thomas gives him a look, “It's our shopping, Dear.”

“Ugh-” Severus groans, “I mean why are most of our things near identical-minus the brands?” He leans closer. “Are you bloody mocking me?”

“No!” Thomas exclaims, “It’s all in my list, Darling.” he reassures, although there's a conspiring grin on his face, “Merely a coincidence.”

“Uhuh.” Severus is not convinced.

They walk over to the hygiene area where Severus hesitantly glances towards Thomas. Shit, I didn’t really think this part through.

He watches the pureblood brush through his soft (damn its really fucking soft!) curls, looking idly at the brands but not making a move to get any of them. Severus supposes he uses cleansing and beatifying potions instead.

“Say,” Severus starts, trying to act casual, “Can you grab a soap bar for me, any brand will do.” he asks politely.

Thomas nods at him, seemingly happy to do it for him, “Sure, darling.” he walks off.

“Nothing expensive!” he hollers back, before hastily going to the baby hygiene area.

Severus sighs as he picks out a bottle of baby shampoo. Damn everything, but given his career path in potions, nothing could protect his hair better than baby shampoo. Which is embarrassing in its own right but it's better than looking like an oil rag, after all. None of the potions ever worked well for Severus, they always harshly affect his skin.

He smells really comfy too, which is always a bonus.

Severus runs back to the cart, doing his best to put the bottle underneath the other things in his basket. Thomas walks back to the cart with a bundle of pricey soaps to which the halfblood groans at, “Not only did I say nothing expensive but I also very much said that I wanted a soap bar; not six.” he halfheartedly glares at Thomas, “I’m on a tight budget, Thomas.”

“No problem, dear. This one will be my treat.” Thomas smiles, plopping the bundle into Severus’ basket.

“Just this one?” Severus asks dubiously, familiar with Thomas’ spending habits when it comes to him.

“Just these ones.” Thomas confirms.

Severus, still suspicious, accepts his answer. “Let’s go then.”

They take their time walking towards the front of the store, towards the cashiers. They make multiple stops along the way, distracted by some products that might inspire whatever discussions they can bring up.

“There is a stark difference between this salt and this salt.” Severus says, pointing at near identical canisters of salt.

“I…seriously doubt that, Darling. Look here, they come from the same manufacturer.” Thomas replies, twisting the salts around to show Severus the print.

“I don’t care, they taste very different.” Severus turns his head a bit, gasping in delight. “Look at you!” he coos quietly but excitedly at a corgi waddling by them. The ginger little thing bumping its nose to his leg. The owner laughs at her dog’s antics, passing by them casually. Severus takes note of the fact that the dog was not leashed.

“Oh, its so polite it doesn’t even need a leash.” he whispers, watching the duo walk off to another aisle.

Thomas watches him in amusement, “You really love dogs.”

Severus nods, “I always have, it’s not very obvious.” Because I was a total friendless loser in Hogwarts.

“You did mention wanting a dog, before.” Thomas says, remembering their conversation from Halloween.

Severus nods in confirmation, “Always did, although I was realistic enough to know that my father would have been very displeased.” he states a total understatement.

Had he brought a dog to their shitty home, Tobias would not hesitate to chuck the poor animal out the window and directly into the dirty river.

They carry on their walk, until they finally reach the cashiers. Severus starts taking out his items, unaware that Thomas is doing the same.

“Together or separate?” The bored teen asks, scanning the products at the speed of light anyway. How is he doing that?

“Together, please.” Thomas replies politely, and quickly. The sneaky shite.

“Separate actually.” Severus rebuts, turning to the cashier who is staring back at him blatantly displeased.

“Look, mate, I’ve scanned half of his already.” is the teen’s reply, still very much scanning the rest of Thomas’ things with his.

Severus sighs, damn this brat, “Carry on.” he smiles (grimaces). He sharply glares at Thomas, “We’re paying separately.”

Thomas merely hums, neither agreeing or disagreeing.

Severus rolls his eyes before quickly bagging up his items. Given that it’s almost midnight, it makes sense that there isn’t a lot of staff to do it for him.

Distracted as he is, he was a second too late to stop Thomas from transacting with the cashier. He has just sneakily grabbed at the baby shampoo before finally tuning into the conversation.

“Credit, please.” Thomas says, taking out a black credit card.

Severus’ eyes widen at the sight. He shouldn’t be surprised that Thomas had one of those, but it still blew him away seeing a black card in real life.

“Hey-wait-” Severus snaps out of his money-struck state, “That’s cheating.”

“I did not cheat anything, the poor man was waiting for our payment so I had to.” Thomas replies cheekily.

The half blood frowns, as he absentmindedly puts away his shampoo, “That’s a shit argument.”

“It’s the truth nevertheless, Severus.” Thomas retorts, mindful to say his name instead of his many excruciating pet names for him. Given that they’re in a Tesco, its understandable.

The teen does his best to ignore them, carrying on with the process of getting Thomas’ card confirmed for the transaction. The pureblood signs the receipt, asking for another piece of paper as he does.

Thomas jots something down before scooting closer to Severus, taking out the baby shampoo, “Severus, you should know better. You’ve got to separate your shampoo from your food.” he says teasingly, promptly placing the bottle into a separate bag.

Severus growls to himself, embarrassment flushing through his cheeks as he realized that Thomas’ knows his dumb little secret, “Don’t tell anyone.”

“Mhm, cross my heart.” Thomas says with a nod, his hair all soft and fluffy and shit bouncing with it, taking his card from the teen and slipping it into his inner coat pocket. “It’s merely an endearing detail about you.”

“My arse.” he whispers to himself, flushed despite it.

Thomas, with the help of Severus, packs his own groceries, being very unreliable.

“You bully me for putting my shampoo with my vegetables but your putting you dairy right next to bleach, what’s wrong with you.” Severus exasperatedly snatches away the milk carton, putting it next to the eggs carefully.

Thomas shrugs, “I guess that can go there for now.” and then he plops hand sanitizer into the bag with cereal.

“Stop that.” Severus takes out the hand sanitizer from the bag and from Thomas’ hands, “it’s like any common sense you had stayed in your suits.”

Thomas lets out an affronted noise, albeit jokingly, “I’ve got a system that I stick to, I’ll have you know.”

“Does that system focus on playing with the chance of food poisoning? Because if it does then you are more than welcome to carry on.” Severus backs away from the groceries, waving at them, “It will give me a few days away from you at least.”

“How you wound me, Severus.” The pureblood places a hand on his heart, as though struck, “And here I though you cared about me.”

“My job is to pretend to care about you.” is his immediate rebuttal.

Thomas laughs, going back to packing his groceries, tossing the piece of paper into one of them, “You’re not doing a very good job then. Seeing as you really do care about me.”

“When have I ever insinuated that I do?” Severus asks, his arms crossed defensively.

Thomas snickers, “July.”

Severus flushes, understanding immediately, “That doesn’t count.”

“Oh, but yes it does.” Thomas fires back immediately, “It was the sweetest thing, Severus. Trying to comfort me.”

“There was no comforting!” Severus exclaims, not loudly mind you, he knows he’s in public, “And you disappeared for nearly a month, how was I supposed to react to you appearing out of the blue looking like you were ready to kill everyone in sight?!”

“Excuses, excuses.” Thomas finally, finally, finishes bagging his shit. Prompting both of them to carry their stuff. With a bit of stuggling, all muggle like, as they can’t shrink the bags quite yet.

The duo heads for the exit still very much in the middle of their one-sided argument.  

“Jesus Christ,” the teen slumps down, watching the bickering duo walk out of Tesco, “They are so fucking gay.”

They step out of the store, Thomas’ coat billowing at the winds that seemed to pick up while they were doing their shopping. Severus curses silently to himself, shivering at the feeling of the winds working their way into his shitty clothes.

Damn, Britain and it’s unpredictable-predictable weather.

Severus stills at the lip of the alleyway, before letting out a sneeze. The sound echoes along the dark narrow pathway makes Thomas flinch in surprise, turning to look at him.

He sighs, “You mustn't force yourself into this weather with the clothes you have." Thomas gestures, as much as he could with an armful of groceries, to his worn out clothes. The threadbare jumper he is wearing is peaking through the large  worn-down jacket he nicked from his shit father way back when.

"Yes, yes, I know. You always make it a whole ordeal, my shivering in the cold." Severus waves him off, sniffling from the mighty sneeze. He walks further into the alley where he haphazardly takes out his wand and shrinks his things, turning around to do the same for Thomas.

Thomas sighs with a resigned adoration, pocketing some of the bags, "All I ask is for you to wear clothes more fitting of the elements." his face morphs mischievously, "You still have my coat, after all."

The cheeky shite.

Severus splutters, not expecting the blatant reminder of his unwillingness to return Thomas' blasted coat. By Thomas no less!

"I've been meaning to return it-" Thomas stops his excuses with a raised hand.

"Darling, it's no matter." His mischief dials down to a soft smile, "It's yours."

Severus still doesn’t shut up, because that’s been a lot harder to do lately, “No, no, I’ll have it dry cleaned and packed into those fancy suit bags and-”

“Darling.” Thomas cuts him off again, his hand going to Severus’ arm, ‘I mean it, it’s yours now.”

Severus quiets down then, looking up at Thomas and his fluffy looking hair bouncing with the wind, his small but earnest smile, his god damned sweatpants-

“Fine.” Severus concedes, “Thank you.” he adds, because he isn’t actually an ungrateful bastard.

Thomas grins, and damn Severus must be going insane because that gives him an endearing sort of mushy bullshit in his chest.

“Goodbye then, Thomas.” Severus says after a beat of silence.

Thomas nods as his hand slides down his arm slowly, before it swings back to his side, “Farewell, dear.”

And, in a quick move, Thomas brings his hand back up, placing it on Severus’ hair. It slides down by his ear, almost cupping his head. Severus, although flabbergasted beyond belief, marvels at the heat of it. A stark contrast against his cold cheek.

Then he disapparates away.

“What the fuck.” Severus whispers to himself, his had going up to his cheek, feeling the absence of warmth he felt just a second ago.

‘I shouldn’t be surprised, he does this all the time.’ He thinks to himself as he apparates to Knockturn, in front of his shoddy building, ‘No, something was different.’ He thinks again when he enters his flat.

“It’s his fluffy fucking hair.” He bellows in the middle of the flat.

“The fuck are you on about?” Alicia asks.

Severus snaps his attention towards her lounging on the couch with a raunchy book in hand, “Nothing.” he walks to the kitchen, “I’ve got the goods.”

Alicia stands up, tossing her book down the couch and heads to him, “Hell yeah. Let me see.”

Severus welcomes the distraction of the excitement in the mundane, taking out and unshrinking the bags, “The store is on sale for another 3 days so anything we might have missed we can-” he stops, intently looking at the bags.

“Can what?” Alicia asks, trying to look at what he is seeing, “Did you actually miss something? It’s a hassle but we can go back another time.”

Severus shakes his head, “There’s more bags.”

Alicia doesn’t say anything, opting to watch him frantically count and peek into the bags.

“Some of these are Thomas’ stuff.” he says, looking at the products he called out Thomas over.

“Thomas, aye?” Alicia has this sleazy look on her face, “What’s he got to do with this?”

“We bought groceries together-”

“-Oh how domestic of you-”

“Shut up-and this is his things. Why is it…” he finds a piece of paper.

I hope you don’t mind, I got you some of what you were getting-better versions of course.

I only want what’s best for my darling after all.

Don’t kill me,

Thomas ;)

That sneaky son of a twat.

“Lover boy strikes again,” Alicia coos, reading the note over his shoulder, “I didn’t know you were finally dating him.”

“That’s because I’m not!” Severus denies immediately, tossing the note on the table, “We were both at the same place a the same time, that’s all.”

Alicia gives him a look of scrutiny, “Hm, right, yes of course.”

“I swear! I was just in the alleyway of Tesco when-” he freezes, finally remembering something. Something direly important.

The Asian gives him another look, “When…?”

“OH FUCK,” Severus exclaims, slamming his hands on the counter top, “I FORGOT ABOUT ROSIER!”

Chapter Text

For the past ten minutes Severus has been solidly keeping a wince-y look on his face as he stares at Rosier huddled on top of the dumpster’s cover with Hector on his lap. 

“I’m so fucking sorry, Rosier.” he rasps out for about the 50th time within that span, keeping his distance, lest he lets his fellow alumnus strangle him; again, “Now will you please take the Pepper-Up potion?” he makes a show of handing it to him, but Rosier doesn’t budge from his position. 

Ignoring, still, the offered healing potion, the pureblood glares at him. “Let me join the Order then.” Rosier chatters finally, having given him the silent treatment, under a thick duvet fetched from his dumpster hideout. The pureblood sneezes rambunctiously, scaring a few feral cats away. As he settles back into the duvet, he grumpily munches on a small bag of Quavers. He drops a few for the niffler as well.

How dreadfully disgusting, but since Severus kept him under the full-body bind curse during this shitty British weather for an hour, he will not say a word…asides from a whispered Scourgify sent towards the blanket…and a heating charm, just to get on his good side again.

Severus groans, reminded of the conversation they had hours prior, “What makes you think I’ve got a say in the Order? You’ve stalked me long enough, you know I’m only there as an occasional healer and potion brewer.”

“But you are still near enough to Dumbledore to sway him.” Rosier replies through a mouthful of crisps, “We’re Slytherins, Severus. Master manipulators and all that.”

Severus gawks at him, “You are an even bigger dumb ass than I thought.” 

To manipulate the Hero of Magical Britain …who the hell does Rosier think he is?!

Rosier scoffs, “Don’t give me that, mate. Really think about it. You lot need information. Information I can get from loud-mouthed showoffs.” he snuggles further into his duvet, “I’ve got great stalking skills too, you’ve seen what I can do-couldn’t see rather, like a proper James Bond.” he smirks while sniffing and chewing rather loudly.

The halfblood goes to make a rebuttal, but finds that he can’t. The pureblood does make a good point, damn.

From the little bits and bobs he hears from Lily and Potter whenever they whisper amongst themselves, Severus can admit that the Order hasn’t been able to do anything a whole lot progressive. Their investigation has been stagnant since the discovery of the tattoo followers bare on their forearms. It’s strange really, Lily told him, the Death Eaters have been really quiet for a while. Like they’d realized that they could be caught red-handed if they were reckless, especially with the tattoos. Any movement that the Death Eaters make, the Order finds too late. Like a game of cat and mouse, except…well, there is barely anything to chase by the time the Order is at the scene of the crime, the criminals long gone.

And don’t get him started with Alicia’s gossip. ‘ Knockturn Alley crims talk, Sev. They’re sympathetic to the guy.’

With that said…Severus internally sighs, maybe the Order does need someone like Rosier on their side. 

“I’ll give you that, James Bond.” he agrees sarcastically, “I’m not even going to question how you know the character.”

“It comes with my research abilities, Severus, I’m bound to know things. Many important things, like this muggle gizmo and Death Eater plans.” Rosier gestures to the Speak&Spell (and to the niffler slowly crawling to it) before rubbing recklessly at his runny nose.

Gods, he is so gross.

“Alright, how about this. Please take the sodding Pepper-up,” Severus starts, “and I’ll ask Lily and James Potter to speak with Dumbledore. That’s the best I can do.” Severus tiredly deals, shaking the potion still in his hand.

They stare each other down, trying to figure out where they stand. If the deal is on or if they’ll continue this cycle of disagreement and muggle pop culture references.

Finally-“Very well.” nods Rosier as he throws the empty bag of crisps to the ground, “That should be enough for now.”

He jumps out of his cocoon and shoves the duvets back into the dumpster, “It’s not the best compromise, but I’ll take what I can get.” he turns to Severus and takes the offered Pepper-Up, pops the cork open and downs it in one go. His face goes a cartoonish red as his ears blow a lot of steam from the effects, before settling on a healthy flush, “Whew! I do miss your upgraded version, Severus, it works like a charm.”

“Ta.” is all Severus can say.

The pureblood casts a disillusionment charm on his dumpster hideout, “You better convince the hell out of that muggleborn best friend of yours, Severus. You know what I’m capable of, and you know now that I’m willing to do it for Dumbledore’s greater good .”

Rosier holds out his hand to his niffler, who jumps in and enthusiastically rubs against his thumb, “Welp, I’ll see you around Severus Snape. You know where to find me, and I sure as hell know where to find you,” With a wink and a salute, both very muggle, he apparates away leaving behind a baffled halfblood.

He must really be serious about being one with the locals, huh.

…

Now how should he bring this up to Lily…?

---

“Who spoke to you?!” Lily exclaims, abruptly standing up. Potter stands by the doorway, his face spelling the same disbelief she’s expressing.

“Evan Rosier.” He repeats, slower this time, in case she mishears or something.

Lily makes a high-pitched agitated noise from her throat, before facing away from him, “You’re an idiot. A suicidal idiot, no brain-No. you’ve got brain, a big vein-y brain, even. But its like you intentionally switch it off whenever your life is potentially in danger!” she paces around her living room, “What were you thinking?! Speaking to your stalker alone in some alleyway! This stalker, by the way, was a Death Eater classmate of ours. He could have killed you, Severus Snape! Ever thought about that before you decided to have a chat with the bastard!”

“Now, Lily-”

“No! No, no, no! Shut up!” She exclaims, making a sharp zipping gesture with her hands, she looks at her husband “Are you hearing this, dear?! Look at his throat, he’s clearly been choked! Attacked!”

‘Drats, I knew I forgot to do something’ He thinks to himself, his hands itching to reach for his bruise balm. He doesn’t move an inch, fearing that one move would provoke Lily further. Severus looks over at Potter, who still seems to be in shock by the information. Dare he say, he is looking pleadingly at the man, in hopes to calm Lily down.

The man takes the hint.

“Okay, okay. Love, hold on.” Potter holds his hands up in a placating manner, walking over to his wife to calm her.

“Before this gets any more heated,” James says, being the mediator between Lily and him for once in his bloody life, “Severus, I’m going to need you to explain, in detail, what happened.” He continues in a half professional and calm manner. The pureblood encourages Lily to sit; she does, albeit angrily.

‘That’s what I came here to do ’ Severus would have said sarcastically if he was feeling like being choked out twice in less than 24 hours. But since he isn’t he settles for a-

“It began a few weeks ago.”

Severus recounts the things that've been happening to him for a month. The feeling of being watched everywhere he was-admitting in turn that that was the reason why he was being all of a sudden weird for a minute or two-the fact that Rosier essentially knew his every step (minus his place of work, which he refuses to divulge to Potter as well: he does anyway, damn it.) He then adds to how he ended up talking to Rosier. From meeting him in an alleyway where the pureblood admits that he is not a part of the Death Eaters due to being seen as a liability for his disability. Severus puts emphasis, in hopes to humanize the bastard in the married couple’s eyes, on Rosier’s hobby in learning about muggle culture. 

Then he gets to the topic of Rosier’s potential involvement with the Order.

Lily, predictably, protests wholeheartedly, “Oh, you’ve absolutely lost it, Severus! There’s no universe where he could possibly be trusted!” 

“She’s right, Severus. Given his and his family’s notoriety, you have to understand that we can’t have him in the Order. There’s too much sensitive information, too much at stake.” Potter pipes up this time, sounding less dumb as usual.  

“Exactly!” she exclaims, “He comes from a long line of dark wizards. Bigoted dark wizards. Bigoted dark wizards that always seem to be supportive of every major dark lord. Grindelwald? Vol–the current one? There’s a pattern, and you can’t make me believe that he is just going to up and break that pattern just because he seems to be…given the cold shoulder by the rest of his shitty dark gang!”

“I hear your point, and I was of the same opinion.” Severus replies, “But, you have to admit, you need more manpower. When was the last time you found another big breakthrough like the tattoo? When was the last time you caught the Death Eaters in the middle of their acts? The Order needs an in. He could be that in.” he adds.

“...But, Sev, it’s Evan Rosier we’re talking about. He’s a pompous asshole with a psychotic streak.” Lily says.

“He lives in a dumpster studying muggle children’s toys, I think we can retire the pompous asshole bit. Psychotic, though…” he clears his throat, wincing subtly as it agitates the bruises.

Lily stays quiet, refusing to even acknowledge his ‘attempts’ to convince her.

“I suppose it’s safe to tell you, but we’ve been slowly recruiting more wizards into the Order. So in terms of manpower, we’ve got it covered, Severus.” Potter reveals.

Severus hums as he raises an eyebrow, “And are they all light wizards?”

Potter purses his lips, that alone answers the halfblood’s question.

“I understand your hesitation to even consider him for the Order, believe me, I do. But to have him in your group would be largely beneficial. You need his abilities and dark nobility. He is close enough to listen for information, ostracized enough for showboaters to not consider him a threat. It took me accidentally catching him in my school to truly confirm that I was being followed. You have to admit that he is an asset and could be an asset for the Order.” Severus explains.

“Sev-”

“Knockturn Alley whispers, Lily, and a lot of them are often praises to the Dark Lord.” he cuts through. “Think about it, if you’re recruiting more wizards of light affiliation, then you have to assume that the Dark Lord is doing the same; with far more deadly folk, those who aren’t afraid of fighting dirty.” 

Severus leans on his knees, looking Lily in the eyes, “You recruit Rosier, you have yourself someone who is willing to dirty their hands in the name of…er-muggle tolerance.” Severus adds, “he should be enough to even out your chances against this wild goose chase with the Death Eaters.”

Their tense silence is broken by Harry’s wailing from the other room. Potter excuses himself to tend to their child, leaving Lily and Severus to have a stare down.

Lily has calmed down by a large degree, only holding a face of distrust for their ex-classmate.

“For someone who doesn’t want to get involved with the Order, you sure are bringing up a lot of good points about it. Recruiting someone we shouldn’t, even,” Lily states, glaring.

Severus rolls his eyes, “Gods, it’s irritating me too. But given the fact that it's me that’s being troubled for your cause, you’ve got to understand that all I’m doing is taking him off my hands.”

It’s Lily’s turn to roll her eyes at his statement, “Bull shit. I can see right through you, Severus. You care. Albeit, to the point of doing something as idiotic as considering this asshole, but you care.”

“If it keeps you and your family alive, so be it.”

The redhead softens at that.

“Damn it, Sevvy…” she groans, slumping into her seat, “You can’t keep using that ‘Severus Snape is a Good Person’ card on me. You know it's one of my weaknesses…”

His lips quirk up in a small irritated smile, “You use it on me all the time! Besides, there’s too much at stake for me to not consider options that will put you at an advantage.”

“Advantage…recruiting Rosier, I never thought I’d see the bloody day.” Lily sighs, “You trust him?”

Severus purses his lips, “As much as you can trust the Evan Rosier.”

“Fair enough.”

“I’ll provide Veritaserum, if only to help you figure out his sincerity once and for all.”

Lily hums, “Why didn’t you do that in the first place?”

Severus gives her a blank look, “Do you see the bruises around my throat? I’d truly be an idiot to push my luck further with him.”

“...Fair enough…” Lily repeats.

“So will you consider talking to Dumbledore about this?”

Lily rubs her face in defeat, notifying Severus of his current victory, “I’ll tell, James.”

So Severus takes that as a sign to head home, not before having his throat aggressively massaged by Lily with bruise balm. She said it was for her peace of mind and revenge for his idiocy. He accepted the treatment with only three grumbly complaints.

He apparates straight into his living room, greeted by the windows of Severus’ and Alicia’s flat rattle from the strong winds that the storm brought upon London, the rain unkind to those in the tight walkways of Knockturn Alley. It feels a little foreboding, he admits to himself. Like something big is about to happen. 

A dainty knock on his front door seems to prove that point.

He sighs tiredly. ‘ Will I ever catch a break?’

Severus opens the door, surprise marring his face.

“Narcissa?”

Indeed, Narcissa Malfoy is in front of him. Looking around uncomfortably at the dingy hallway of his apartment building.

“Hello, Severus, will you let me in?” Narcissa asks, subtly inching into his flat.

He shakes out the shock from himself, remembering his manners, “Yes, yes, of course. Come in.”

“Everything is clean, I promise. My roommate is a bit of a neat freak.” Severus says as he closes the door after her. Surprised as he was, he finally notices the black baby carrier floating next to the pureblood, “Oh, Draco! What a surprise.”

He is reminded of his earlier thoughts about the foreboding feeling the storm is hinting at him. 

“I need a favour from you, dear.” Narcissa cuts to the chase, “I need you to babysit Draco for a few days.”

Severus blinks.

Narcissa is still here. Draco is too, napping peacefully in his little baby carrier.

And then he blinks again.

Narcissa hasn’t told him it was a joke. She hasn’t even said a follow up sentence to her request.

And then he blinks for a third time.

She’s almost giving him an exasperated look at his silence.

Okay, so he didn’t hear wrong.

"...You want me to babysit Draco for a few days?" Severus asks slowly, looking at Narcissa in disbelief.

The pureblood nods, shuffling as she looks around the shitty flat in nervousness. "I'm sorry for the sudden intrusion, Severus. I know that you haven’t been left alone with Draco for more than a minute.” her face twitches at her own bluntness.

“Yes.” he nods, unbothered by being reminded of his failure as a godfather.

 “But He is...planning something. No one is excused." Narcissa explains, tired despite the eloquent display she always gives. His blood freezes at the information, itching immediately to tell Lily.

Thunder rumbles outside, both of them silently assessing the situation at hand. Severus, trying to wrap his head around the news. Narcissa running her hand through Draco’s blond hair lovingly.

Severus barely stops himself from blowing raspberry’s childishly to break the silence. Opting instead to ask, “But can you really trust me with Draco?”

Narcissa nods resolutely, “You’ve always been so careful with him, Severus. Of course I trust you. I don’t know who else I could fully trust with my darling other than you.” 

At that, he nods in understanding, reminded of the fact that Draco’s godmother is…Bellatrix Lestrange. There’s no knowing what she would do to Draco unsupervised.

Severus frowns, "Will you be okay?" Is Lucius okay asked without having been uttered.

"Yes I'll be fine, I'll be away from the...battlefield for the most part but I will be occupied with curse-binding, healing, among other things." She says, before reassuring him, "Lucius will be fine, like always."

Severus nods with hesitant acceptance, “I…okay. I’ll do my best to take care of Draco.”

Narcissa sighs in relief, taking him into a hug. Her showing a sign of weakness like this, in front of a stranger like Alicia, tells him that she is a lot more scared than she’d let on. He hugs her back, deciding not to confront her about it.

“Thank you, Severus.”

The next half hour is spent with Narcissa floating the baby carrier over to his fraying sofa and giving Severus a full and detailed list of all the things Draco might need. Feeding schedules, favourite fruit, nap time, nicknames he responds to with delight-and nicknames he responds to with baby disdain, the names of his toys- the list is near endless. The pureblood hands him a hefty baby bag, charmed to carry everything the baby needs (“He should have a crib in there, Severus, I think it can fit well enough in your bedroom.”). She also leaves him Draco’s personal elf, Mimi, to help him with his babysitting duties. 

Narcissa finally leaves, after five minutes of cooing at a sleeping Draco tearfully. Severus watches, for a moment, Mimi taking out the crib from the baby bag.

He sighs as he takes out a piece of parchment and goes to write Lily.

Lily, I’ve recently received news…